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North  Carolina  State  Library 


THE 


North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 


Issued  Quarterly 


Volume  XXIX 


Numbers  1-4 


JANUARY-  OCTOBER 
1952 


Published  by 

STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Corner  of  Edenton  and  Salisbury  streets 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  HISTORICAL  REVIEW 


Published  by  the  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


Christopher  Crittenden,  Editor 
David  Leroy  Corbitt,  Managing  Editor 


ADVISORY  EDITORIAL  BOARD 

Walter  Clinton  Jackson  Hugh  Talmage  Lefler 

Frontis  Withers  Johnston  Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

George  Myers  Stephens 


STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Benjamin  Franklin  Brown,  Chairman 

Gertrude  Sprague  Carraway  McDaniel  Lewis 

Clarence  W.  Griffin  Mrs.  Sadie  Smathers  Patton 

William  Thomas  Laprade  Mrs.  Callie  Pridgen  Williams 

Christopher  Crittenden,  Director 


This  review  was  established  in  January,  1924,  as  a  medium  of  publication 
and  discussion  of  history  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  issued  to  other  institutions 
by  exchange,  but  to  the  general  public  by  subscription  only.  The  regular 
price  is  $2.00  per  year.  To  members  of  the  State  Literary  and  Historical 
Association  there  is  a  special  price  of  $1.00  per  year.  Back  numbers  may  be 
procured  at  the  regular  price  of  $2.00  per  volume,  or  $.50  per  number. 

[ii] 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 


VOLUME  XXIX 


NUMBER  1,  JANUARY,  1952 

ADELAIDE  LISETTA  FRIES 1 

Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

A  BOOK  PEDLAR'S  PROGRESS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA       8 

James  S.  Purcell 

HENRY  McCULLOH :  PROGENITOR  OF  THE 

STAMP  ACT 24 

James  High 

SOME  ASPECTS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  RURAL  SOUTH 

CAROLINA  IN  1850 39 

Joseph  Davis  Applewhite 

THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  AND  NEGRO 

EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA 64 

William  T.  Alderson,  Jr. 

UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  CALVIN 

HENDERSON   WILEY 91 

Mary  Callum  Wiley 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO 

ANDREW  JOHNSON 104 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

BOOK  REVIEWS 120 

Ulmer's  and  Beck's  To  Make  My  Bread:  Preparing 
Cherokee  Foods — By  Ruth  Current;  Hunter's  Unto 
These  Hills,  a  Drama  of  the  Cherokee — By  Richard 
Walser;  Griffin's  Essays  on  North  Carolina  History 
— By  Robert  H.  Woody;  Alden's  General  Charles  Lee: 
Traitor  or  Patriot? — By  L.  Walter  Seegers;  Cald- 
well's The  History  of  a  Brigade  of  South  Carolinians — 
By  Sarah  McCulloh  Lemmon;  Davis's  The  Ragged 
Ones — By  Chalmers  G.  Davidson;  Davidson's,  Mid- 
dleton's,  and  Rouse's  They  Gave  Us  Freedom — By 
Daniel  M.  McFarland  ;  Tankersley's  College  Life  at 
Old  Oglethorpe — By  Stuart  Noblin;  Davidson's 
Friend  of  the  People:  The  Life  of  Dr.  Peter  Fayssoux 
of  Charleston,  South  Carolina — By  James  W.  Patton  ; 

[iii] 


Sf\  ft  ft 


iv  Contents 

Hopkins's  A  History  of  the  Hemp  Industry  in  Kentucky 
— By  Stuart  Noblin;  Cornelius's  The  History  of 
Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College:  From  the  Founding 
in  1891  Through  the  Year  1949-1950 — By  David  A. 
Lockmiller;  Kirwan's  Revolt  of  the  Rednecks:  Mis- 
sissippi Politics,  1876-1925 — By  Edwin  Adams  Davis; 
Coulter's  College  Life  in  the  Old  South — By  Henry 
S.  Stroupe;  Hoover's  and  Ratchford's  Economic  Re- 
sources and  Policies  of  the  South — By  C.  K.  Brown; 
Coleman's  Liberty  and  Property — By  Hugh  T.  Lef- 
ler;  Knight's  Education  in  the  United  States — By 
Elbert  Vaughan  Wills  ;  Turner's  The  United  States, 
1830-1850:  The  Nation  and  Its  Sections — By  Richard 
Bardolph  ;  Federal  Records  of  World  War  II — By  E.  G. 
Roberts. 

HISTORICAL  NEWS 144 


NUMBER  2,  APRIL,  1952 

THE  BAR  EXAMINATION  AND  BEGINNING  YEARS 
OF  LEGAL  PRACTICE  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA,  1820-1860 159 

Fannie  Memory  Farmer 

ELECTIONEERING  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  1800-1835  171 

John  Chalmers  Vinson 

JIM  POLK  GOES  TO  CHAPEL  HILL 189 

Charles  Grier  Sellers,  Jr. 

THE  HATTERAS  EXPEDITION,  AUGUST,  1861 204 

James  M.  Merrill 

PAPER  MANUFACTURING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 220 

Ernest  M.  Lander,  Jr. 

PAPERS  FROM  THE  FIFTY-FIRST  ANNUAL  SESSION 
OF  THE  STATE  LITERARY  AND  HISTORICAL 
ASSOCIATION,  Raleigh,  December  7,  1951 

INTRODUCTION    228 

Christopher  Crittenden 

OLD  BRUNSWICK,  THE  STORY  OF  A  COLONIAL 

TOWN    230 

E.  Lawrence  Lee,  Jr. 


. 


t 


Contents  v 

NORTH  CAROLINA  NON-FICTION  WORKS 
FOR  1951 246 

Frontis  W.  Johnston 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO  ANDREW 

JOHNSON    259 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

NORTH  CAROLINA  BIBLIOGRAPHY,  1950-1951 269 

Mary  Lindsay  Thornton 

BOOK  REVIEWS   278 

Edmonds's  The  Negro  and  Fusion  Politics  in  North 
Carolina,  1894-1901 — By  Preston  W.  Edsall;  Rec- 
ord's The  Negro  and  the  Communist  Party — By  Pres- 
ton W.  Edsall;  Dula's  and  Simpson's  Durham  and 
Her  People — By  D.  J.  Whitener;  Taylor's  Survey  of 
Marine  Fisheries  of  North  Carolina — By  David  H. 
Wallace;  Bailey's  and  Leavitt's  The  Southern  Hu- 
manities Conference  and  Its  Constituent  Societies — By 
M.  L.  Skaggs  ;  Going's  Bourbon  Democracy  in  Alabama 
— By  Frontis  W.  Johnston  ;  Carter's  The  Territorial 
Papers  of  the  United  States — By  Walter  H.  Ryle; 
Loth's  The  People's  General:  The  Personal  Story  of 
Lafayette — By  May  Davis  Hill  ;  Fishbein's  and  Ben- 
nett's Records  of  the  Accounting  Department  of  the 
Office  of  Price  Administration,  Shonkwiler's  Records 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  and  Martin's  Records  of 
the  Solid  Fuels  Administration  for  War,  Preliminary 
Inventories  of  the  National  Archives,  numbers  32,  33, 
and  34 — By  Dorothy  Dodd. 

HISTORICAL  NEWS 295 


NUMBER  3,  JULY,  1952 

CHRISTOPHER  NEWPORT  IN  1590 305 

David  B.  Quinn 

THE  MIND  OF  THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  OPPONENTS 
OF  THE  STAMP  ACT 317 

C.  Robert  Haywood 

THE  ANTE-BELLUM  PROFESSIONAL  THEATER 

IN  RALEIGH 344 

Donald  J.  Rulfs 

NORTH  CAROLINA  IN  THE  CONFEDERATE 

CONGRESS 359 

Wilfred  B.  Yearns,  Jr. 


vi  Contents 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY  EXTENSION  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 
AND  THE  WPA 379 

Elaine  von  Oesen 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO 

ANDREW  JOHNSON 400 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

BOOK  REVIEWS 432 

Oates  The  Story  of  Fayetteville  and  the  Upper  Cape 
Fear — By  Paul  Murray;  Walser's  Inglis  Fletcher  of 
Bandon  Plantation — By  Chalmers  G.  Davidson; 
Baker's  Mrs.  G.  I.  Joe — By  Percival  Perry  ;  Lewis's 
Northampton  Parishes — By  William  S.  Powell  ;  Hol- 
lis'S  University  of  South  Carolina.  Volume  I.  South 
Carolina  College — By  J.  Isaac  Copeland;  Williams's 
St.  Michael's,  Charleston,  1751-1951 — By  Lawrence  F. 
Brewster;  Easterby's  The  Journal  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Assembly,  September  12, 1739-March  26,  17  Ul 
(The  Colonial  Records  of  South  Carolina) — By  Hugh  T. 
Lefler;  Milling's  Colonial  South  Carolina:  Two  Con- 
temporary Descriptions — By  C.  E.  Cauthen;  Wal- 
lace's History  of  Wofford  College,  185U-19U9 — By 
Frontis  W.  Johnston;  Schlegel's  Conscripted  City: 
Norfolk  in  World  War  II — By  Horace  W.  Raper; 
Lawrence's  Storm  over  Savannah:  The  Story  of 
Count  d'Estaing  and  the  Siege  of  the  Town  in  1779 
— By  J.  D.  Applewhite;  Woodward's  Origins  of 
the  New  South,  1877-1913 — By  Jefferson  Davis 
Bragg;  Murdoch's  The  Georgia-Florida  Frontier,  1793- 
1796 — By  Cecil  Johnson;  Freeman's  George  Wash- 
ington: A  Biography — By  Leonidas  Dodson;  Mon- 
tross'S  Rag,  Tag  and  Bobtail:  The  Story  of  the 
Continental  Army,  1775-1783 — By  Hugh  F.  Rankin; 
McNair's  Simon  Cameron's  Adventure  in  Iron,  1837- 
181+6 — By  James  W.  Patton;  Shott's  The  Railroad 
Monopoly :  An  Instrument  of  Banker  Control  of  the 
American  Economy — By  C.  K.  Brown  ;  Thornbrough's 
A  Friendly  Mission:  John  Candler's  Letters  from 
America,  1853-185 U — By  Tinsley  L.  Spraggins;  Mc- 
Allister's Business  Executives  and  the  Humanities — 
By  Tinsley  L.  Spraggins;  Paschal's  Mr.  Justice 
Sutherland:  A  Man  Against  the  State — By  Preston  W. 
Edsall. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR 460 

HISTORICAL  NEWS 465 


Contents 


vn 


NUMBER  4,  OCTOBER,  1952 


WALTER  HINES  PAGE  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF 

THE  NEW  SOUTH 481 

Charles  Griek  Sellers,  Jr. 

CALVIN  H.  WILEY'S  NORTH  CAROLINA  READER   ...  .500 

Howard  Braverman 

THE  LAND  VALUATIONS  OF  IREDELL  COUNTY 

IN  1800 523 

Hugh   Hill  Wooten 

PAMELA  SAVAGE  OF  CHAMPLAIN, 

HEALTH  SEEKER  IN  OXFORD 540 

Helen  Harriet  Salls 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO  ANDREW 

JOHNSON 569 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

BOOK  REVIEWS   579 

Griffin's  History  of  Rutherford  County,  1937-1951 — 
By  Percival  Perry;  McCoy's  The  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  Asheville,  N.  C,  1794-1951— By  George  W. 
Paschal;  Woody's  The  Papers  and  Addresses  of  Wil- 
liam Preston  Feiv :  Late  President  of  Duke  University — 
By  David  A.  Lockmiller;  Stick's  Graveyard  of  the 
Atlantic:  Shipwrecks  of  the  North  Carolina  Coast — 
By  Robert  H.  Woody;  Willison's  Behold  Virginia! 
The  Fifth  Crown — By  William  S.  Powell;  Ches- 
nutt's  Charles  Waddell  Chesnutt:  Pioneer  of  the  Color 
Line — By  Louise  Greer;  Montgomery's  Cracker 
Parties — By  Glenn  W.  Rainey  ;  Mangum's  The  Legal 
Status  of  the  Tenant  Farmer  in  the  Southeast — By 
Fannie  Memory  Farmer. 

HISTORICAL  NEWS  590 


THE 


North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 


Issued  Quarterly 


Volume  XXIX 


Number  1 


JANUARY,  1952 


Published  by 

STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Corner  of  Edenton  and  Salisbury  streets 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


'.     j.tfHEiNOBffH  CAROLINA  HISTORICAL  REVIEW 


• «   •  • 


c  c  c   < 

<  .  <   <     '  «  ' 


Published  by  the  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


Christopher  Crittenden,  Editor 
David  Leroy  Corbitt,  Managing  Editor 


ADVISORY  EDITORIAL  BOARD 

Walter  Clinton  Jackson  Hugh  Talmage  Lepler 

Frontis  Withers  Johnston  Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

George  Myers  Stephens 


STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Benjamin  Frankltn  Brown,  Chairman 
Gertrude  Sprague  Carraway  - "  McDaniel  Lewis 

Clarence  W.  Griffin  Mrs.  Sadie  Smathers  Patton 

William  Thomas  Laprade  Mrs.  Callie  Pridgen  Williams 

Christopher  Crittenden,  Director 


This  review  was  established  in  January,  192k,  as  a  medium  of  publication 
and  discussion  of  history  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  issued  to  other  institutions 
by  exchange,  but  to  the  general  public  by  subscription  only.  The  regular 
price  is  $2.00  per  year.  To  members  of  the  State  Literary  and  Historical 
Association  there  is  a  special  price  of  $1.00  per  year.  Back  numbers  may  be 
procured  at  the  regular  price  of  $2.00  per  volume,  or  $.50  per  number. 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  JANUARY,  1952  Number  1 

CONTENTS 

ADELAIDE  LISETTA  FRIES 1 

Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

A  BOOK  PEDLAR'S  PROGRESS  IN  NORTH 

CAROLINA  8 

James  S.  Purcell 

HENRY  McCULLOH:  PROGENITOR  OF  THE  STAMP 
ACT      24 

James  High 

SOME  ASPECTS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  RURAL  SOUTH 

CAROLINA  IN  1850     39 

Joseph  Davis  Applewhite 

THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  AND  NEGRO 

EDUCATION  IN  VIRGINIA     64 

William  T.  Alderson,  Jr. 

UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  CALVIN  HENDERSON 

WILEY      91 

Mary  Callum  Wiley 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO  ANDREW 

JOHNSON      104 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

BOOK  REVIEWS     120 

Ulmer's  and  Beck's  To  Make  My  Bread:  Preparing 
Cherokee  Foods — By  Ruth  Current;  Hunter's  Unto 
These  Hills,  a  Drama  of  the  Cherokee — By  Richard 
Walser;  Griffin's  Essays  on  North  Carolina  History    . 
— By  Robert  H.  Woody;  Alden's  General  Charles  Lee: 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  September  29,  1928,  at  the  Post  Office  at 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1879. 

[i] 

i 


Traitor  or  Patriot? — By  L.  Walter  Seegers;  Cald- 
well's The  History  of  a  Brigade  of  South  Carolinians 
— By  Sarah  McCulloh  Lemmon;  Davis's  The  Ragged 
Ones — By  Chalmers  G.  Davidson;  Davidson's,  Mid- 
dleton's,  and  Rouse's  They  Gave  Us  Freedom — By 
Daniel  M.  McFarland  ;  Tankersley's  College  Life  at 
Old  Oglethorpe — By  Stuart  Noblin;  Davidson's 
Friend  of  the  People:  The  Life  of  Dr.  Peter  Fayssoux 
of  Charleston,  South  Carolina — By  James  W.  Patton  ; 
Hopkins's  A  History  of  the  Hemp  Industry  in  Ken- 
tucky— By  Stuart  Noblin;  Cornelius's  The  History 
of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College:  From  the 
Founding  in  1891  Through  the  Year  19  U9 -19  50 — By 
David  A.  Lockmiller;  Kirwan's  Revolt  of  the  Red- 
necks: Mississippi  Politics,  1876-1925 — By  Edwin 
Adams  Davis  ;  Coulter's  College  Life  in  the  Old  South 
— By  Henry  S.  Stroupe;  Hoover's  and  Ratchford's 
Economic  Resources  and  Policies  of  the  South — By 
C.  K.  Brown;  Coleman's  Liberty  and  Property — By 
Hugh  T.  Lefler;  Knight's  Education  in  the  United 
States — By  Elbert  Vaughan  Wills;  Turner's  The 
United  States,  1830-1850:  The  Nation  and  its  Sections 
— By  Richard  Bardolph;  Federal  Records  of  World 
War  II — By  E.  G.  Roberts. 

HISTORICAL  NEWS     144 


ii 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  JANUARY,  1952  Number  1 

ADELAIDE  LISETTA  FRIES1 
By  Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

Adelaide  Lisetta  Fries,  a  native  of  Salem,  North  Carolina,  was 
born  November  12,  1871,  in  a  town  rich  in  tradition  and,  since 
its  founding  in  1766,  well  provided  with  cultural  advantages. 

Her  parents,  John  W.  and  Agnes  Sophia  de  Schweinitz  Fries, 
were  prominent  in  the  community  and  devoted  members  of  the 
Moravian  Church.  Her  family  had  long  been  among  the  leaders 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  or  Moravian  Church,  dating  on  the  one 
side  to  Michael  Jaeschke,  a  refugee  who  came  from  Bohemia  to 
settle  on  the  estate  of  Count  Zinzendorf  in  the  early  eighteenth 
century,  and  on  the  other  side  to  Count  Nicholas  von  Zinzendorf 
himself,  who  has  been  called  "Father  of  the  Renewed  Moravian 
Church." 

Further  mention  should  be  made  of  the  father,  whose  in- 
fluence was  strong  in  the  development  of  her  professional 
interest  and  in  determining  the  main  direction  of  her  talents. 
John  W.  Fries  combined  the  qualifications  of  a  businessman  and 
a  scholar.  He  was  an  industrial  leader,  manufacturer,  banker, 
and  churchman,  but  he  found  time  also  for  scholarly  pursuits 
and  was  a  trustee  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  Salem 
College,  and  other  institutions.  His  encouragement  and  advice 
were  welcome  to  the  gifted  daughter  and  she  acknowledged  her 
debt  to  him  in  the  dedication  of  one  of  her  volumes  to  "My 
companion  in  the  silent  places  of  historical  research." 

As  John  Henry  Boner,  the  poet,  described  it,  the  Salem  of 
his  youth  was 

A  little  town  with  grassy  ways 

And  shady  streets  where  life  hums  low. 


1  A  paper  read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Historical  Society  of  North  Carolina,  Winston-Salem, 
October  20,   1950. 

[1] 


2  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  community  retained  much  of  this  atmosphere  of  tran- 
quillity in  the  youth  of  Adelaide  Fries,  with  interests  centered 
in  church  and  school.  She  attended  Salem  Academy  and  grad- 
uated in  1888.  Two  years  later  she  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  from  Salem  College. 

Early  in  life  she  became  interested  in  historical  research. 
Twice  she  visited  Europe  and  on  these  tours  abroad  she  spent 
considerable  time  studying  the  collection  of  valuable  material 
in  the  Moravian  archives  at  the  ancient  center  of  the  renewed 
Moravian  Church  in  Saxony.  The  first  visit  was  in  1899  and 
the  second  in  1909. 

On  September  26,  1911,  she  was  appointed  archivist  for  the 
Southern  Province  of  the  Moravian  Church  in  America,  and  for 
nearly  forty  years  she  rendered  excellent  service  in  this  position. 

Her  appointment  did  not  bring  an  easy  task.  The  ancient 
records,  beginning  in  North  Carolina  in  1752,  were  remarkable 
for  their  abundance,  care  in  preparation,  and  scope  of  review, 
but  they  were  scattered  here  and  there  and  subject  to  abuse. 
Like  the  lost  books  of  Livy,  there  was  a  gap  in  the  records  of 
a  congregation  dating  from  colonial  days — a  loss  which,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  was  caused  by  the  pastor  of  an  early  period 
who  used  the  missing  pages  for  lighting  his  pipe.  An  original 
letter,  signed  by  President  George  Washington  and  addressed 
with  complimentary  message  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of 
Salem,  she  discovered  by  chance  tucked  away  in  a  pigeonhole 
of  the  desk  of  the  church  warden.  With  characteristic  thorough- 
ness she  assembled  from  offices,  schools,  pastors'  studies,  and 
other  sources  a  great  collection  unrivalled  in  the  state's  com- 
munity histories. 

She  established  the  first  independent  archives  building  and 
moved  the  collection  there,  and  much  later  she  superintended  the 
preparation  of  another  building  suited  for  protection  of  material 
and  for  accommodation  of  students  in  their  study,  and  here  her 
final  years  of  labor  were  passed. 

Her  office  was  always  open  to  those  who  sought  information 
about  Salem,  or  any  other  subject  of  historical  nature.  She  had 
a  passion  for  accuracy  which  characterizes  a  true  archivist  but 
she  combined  with  this  a  desire  to  help  anyone  who  was  inter- 
ested in  seeking  information  in  the  books  and  manuscripts  that 


Adelaide  Lisetta  Fries  3 

abounded  in  her  collection.  In  her  personal  diary  she  recorded 
one  day:  "There  were  four  visitors  at  the  archives  today — two 
students  engaged  in  research,  one  caller  investigating  a  family 
tree,  and  a  visitor  who  did  not  know  when  it  was  time  to  leave." 

An  added  difficulty  appears  in  the  archivist's  office  in  Salem 
because  the  early  records  of  the  community  for  nearly  a  century, 
comprising  perhaps  15,000  pages,  were  written  in  German,  and 
the  handwriting,  often  cramped  and  diminutive,  was  in  script 
of  the  time.  Although  she  had  little  knowledge  of  the  language 
through  study  in  school,  Dr.  Fries  mastered  the  situation.  Pains- 
takingly she  studied  the  language  and  became  proficient  in  trans- 
lation, as  her  numerous  volumes  and  papers  bear  witness. 

As  an  author  she  achieved  national  recognition.  In  the  library 
catalogue  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina-Duke  University 
there  are  twenty-three  card  references.  The  first  volume  pub- 
lished by  her  was  the  history  of  Forsyth  County,  in  1898,  and 
interestingly  enough,  the  last  was  a  volume  edited  by  her  with 
the  assistance  of  five  coeditors,  entitled  Forsyth,  a  County  on  the 
March.  This  last  was  written  as  the  centennial  history  of  Forsyth 
County  and  was  awarded  the  silver  cup  for  the  best  county 
history  written  in  1949. 

Among  other  publications  were  The  Moravians  in  Georgia, 
Funeral  Chorales  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  The  Town  Builders, 
Some  Moravian  Heroes,  and  Moravian  Customs — Our  Inherit- 
ance. She  edited  Bishop  Edward  Rondthaler's  Memorabilia  of 
Fifty  Years.  In  her  last  year  she  completed  a  booklet,  Distinctive 
Customs  and  Practices  of  the  Moravian  Church.  Numerous  ar- 
ticles written  by  her  were  published  in  The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review,  the  Wachovia  Moravian,  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  Magazine,  and  other  publications. 

Her  monumental  works  were  The  Road  to  Salem,  published 
by  the  University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  and  the  Records  of 
the  Moravians  in  North  Carolina,  published  by  the  North  Caro- 
lina Historical  Commission  and  later  by  the  State  Department 
of  Archives  and  History.  The  former  is  an  historical  novel  for 
which  she  was  signally  honored  in  1944  by  being  awarded  the 
Mayflower  Cup,  presented  annually  to  the  North  Carolinian 
adjudged  to  have  written  the  best  book  during  the  year.  The 
latter  work,  consisting  of  seven  published  volumes  and  an  eighth 


4  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

in  process  of  completion,  contains  the  English  translation  from 
the  German  records  of  the  Moravian  churches  in  North  Caro- 
lina, beginning  with  the  year  1752. 

Her  abundant  labors  were  not  confined  to  the  seclusion  of 
the  archives.  She  was  the  recipient  of  many  honors.  From  1905 
to  1934  she  was  president  of  the  Salem  College  Alumnae  Asso- 
ciation. She  helped  organize  and  became  president  of  the  North 
Carolina  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs.  She  served  as  president 
of  the  North  Carolina  State  Literary  and  Historical  Association, 
and  in  1947  she  was  elected  president  of  the  North  Carolina 
Historical  Society,  which  she  helped  reorganize.  She  was  listed 
in  Who's  Who  in  America  and  in  the  Biographical  Quarterly  of 
London.  In  1916  she  was  awarded  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
at  Salem  College.  Three  times  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Letters  was  conferred  on  her :  first  in  1932  by  Moravian  College ; 
again  in  May,  1945,  by  Wake  Forest  College ;  and  the  next  month 
by  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at  which  time  she  was 
pleased  to  wear  the  same  academic  gown  worn  by  her  father 
when  he  received  a  similar  degree  from  the  University. 

In  addition  to  these  honors  she  was  a  member  of  the  American 
Association  for  State  and  Local  History,  the  North  Carolina 
Folklore  Society,  the  North  Carolina  Society  for  the  Preserva- 
tion of  Antiquities,  the  National  Genealogical  Society,  and  the 
Institute  of  American  Genealogy.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Wachovia  Historical  Society,  a  former 
president  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Home  Church,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the  Winston-Salem 
Altrusa  Club. 

Though  she  did  not  aspire  to  the  distinction,  she  became  a 
public  speaker  of  acknowledged  repute  and  was  noted  for  her 
good  sense,  adaptability,  felicity  of  expression,  and  inspiration, 
combined  always  with  the  voice  of  authority. 

It  was  ever  a  keen  delight  to  her  to  engage  in  unraveling 
mysteries  of  an  historical  nature.  As  an  example,  in  her  last 
days  she  was  engaged  in  solving  the  mystery  of  an  old  printing 
press.  In  the  Wachovia  Museum  there  is  an  ancient  hand  press 
with  the  notation  that  it  was  used  to  print  proclamations  of 
Lord  Cornwallis  in  Hillsboro.  Somehow  Dr.  Fries  seized  upon 
this  statement  and  sensed  that  it  was  not  correct.  With  the  zeal 


Adelaide  Lisetta  Fries  5 

of  a  sleuth  of  Scotland  Yard  she  entered  upon  investigation. 
She  made  contacts  with  the  University  library,  the  State  De- 
partment of  Archives  and  History,  the  Library  of  Congress, 
Franklin  Institute,  and  many  other  sources  of  authority,  in- 
cluding the  Public  Record  Office  in  London,  England,  which  gave 
her  assurance  that  Lord  Cornwallis  issued  his  proclamations  at 
Hillsboro  in  handwriting.  Death  came  before  the  mystery  was 
solved,  but  she  laid  the  groundwork  that  resulted  in  the  identifi- 
cation of  the  printing  press  as  a  Ramage  press,  one  of  only 
seventeen  early  American  presses  known  to  be  in  existence  in 
the  country  today. 

It  was  her  privilege  to  be  occupied  with  her  accustomed  duties 
until  a  few  hours  before  her  death.  After  a  brief  illness  she  fell 
peacefully  asleep  Tuesday  morning,  November  29,  1949. 

The  memoir  prepared  by  her  pastor,  in  addition  to  listing  her 
accomplishments  as  archivist  and  historian,  included  these  state- 
ments : 

She  loved  flowers  and  her  garden;  she  always  had  a  story  to 
tell  to  little  children,  and  she  possessed  a  sense  of  humor  that 
was  quite  remarkable. 

As  the  years  passed  she  was  aware  of  her  lessened  physical 
strength  but  she  never  grew  old  in  her  outlook  upon  life  or  in 
her  attitude  toward  her  friends  and  acquaintances.  When  she 
was  compelled  to  spend  a  number  of  weeks  in  the  hospital  several 
years  ago,  she  never  murmured  or  complained.  She  was  only 
grateful  for  the  care  which  was  given  her.  She  was  a  gracious 
and  generous  soul. 

The  following  publications  were  written  or  edited  by  Adelaide 
Lisetta  Fries : 

"Salem  Female  Academy,"  The  North  Carolina  University  Magazine 
(Chapel  Hill),  XIII  (October,  1893),  16-24. 

Forsyth  County.  (Winston:  Stewart's  Printing  House,  1898.  Pp.  132.) 

Historical  Sketch  of  Salem  Female  Academy.  (Salem:  Crist  and  Keehln, 
1902.  Pp.  32.) 

Funeral  Chorales  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  or  Moravian  Church.  (Winston- 
Salem:  1905.  Pp.  23.) 

The  Moravians  in  Georgia,  1735-17  UO.  (Raleigh:  Edwards  and  Broughton, 
1905.  Pp.  252.) 

"Frederick  William  von  Marshall,"  Biographical  History  of  North  Caro- 
lina (Greensboro:  Charles  L.  Van  Noppen,  1905),  II,  237-239. 

The  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence  as  Mentioned  in  Records 
of  Wachovia.  (Raleigh:  Edwards  and  Broughton,  1907.  Reprinted  from 
The  Wachovia  Moravian  for  April,  1906.  Pp.  11.) 


6  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

"Der  North  Carolina  Land  und  Colonie  Etablissement,"  The  North  Caro- 
lina Booklet,  IX  (April,  1910),  119-214. 

The  Town  Builders.  (Winston-Salem:  1915.  Pp.  19.) 

"An  Early  Fourth  of  July  Celebration,"  Journal  of  American  History,  IX 
(July,  1915),  469-474. 

Records  of  the  Moravians  in  North  Carolina.  7  volumes.  (Raleigh:  North 
Carolina  Historical  Commission,  1922-1947.  Vol.  I,  1752-1771  [1922],  pp. 
511;  Vol.  II,  1752-1775  [1925],  pp.  viii,  514-973;  Vol.  Ill,  1776-1779  [1926], 
pp.  975-1490;  Vol.  IV,  1780-1783  [1930],  pp.  1491.1962;  Vol.  V,  1784-1792 
[1941],  pp.  ix,  1963-2450;  Vol.  VI,  1793-1808  [1943],  pp.  x,  2451-3017; 
Vol.  VII,  1809-1822  [Raleigh:  North  Carolina  Department  of  Archives  and 
History,  1947],  pp.  x,  3021-3612.) 

"The  Renewal  of  the  Unity  of  Brethren,"  Moravian  Bicentenary  Pam- 
phlets, No.  1.  (Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania:  Committee  on  Popular  Moravian 
Literature,  1922.  Pp.  1-24.) 

"Autobiography  and  Memoirs  of  Adam  Spach  and  his  Wife,"  in  Descend- 
ants of  Adam  Spach.  Compiled  by  Henry  Wesley  Foltz.  (Winston-Salem: 
Wachovia  Historical  Society,  1924.  Pp.  202). 

"The  Lure  of  Historical  Research,"  North  Carolina  Historical  Review,  I 
(April,  1924),  121-137. 

"A  History  of  Hope  Congregation,  in  North  Carolina,"  Indiana  Magazine 
of  History,  XXVI  (December,  1930),  279-287. 

"The  Moravian  Contribution  to  Colonial  North  Carolina,"  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review,  VII  (January,  1930),  1-14. 

"Travel  Journal  of  Charles  A.  Van  Vleck,  1826,"  North  Carolina  His- 
torical Review,  VIII  (April,  1931),  187-206. 

"North  Carolina  Certificates  of  the  Revolutionary  War  Period,"  North 
Carolina  Historical  Review,  IX  (July,  1932),  229-241. 

"Dr.  Hans  Martin  Kalberlahn,"  Southern  Medicine  and  Surgery,  XCVI 
(October,  1934),  540-543. 

Moravian  Customs — Our  Inheritance.  (Winston-Salem:  1936.  Pp.  62.) 

Some  Moravian  Heroes.  (Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania:  Christian  Education 
Board  of  the  Moravian  Church,  1936.  Pp.  118.) 

"Report  of  the  Brethren  Abraham  Steiner  and  Friedrich  Christian  Von 
Schweinitz  of  Their  Journey  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  and  in  the  Cumberland 
Settlements  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  from  28th  October  to  28th  December, 
1799,"  North  Carolina  Historical  Review,  XXI  (October,  1944),  pp.  330-375. 

The  Road  to  Salem.  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North  Carolina 
Press,  1944.  Pp.  317.) 

Distinctive  Customs  and  Practices  of  the  Moravian  Church.  (Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania:  Comenius  Press,  1949.  Pp.  64.) 

Forsyth,  A  County  on  the  March.  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North 
Carolina  Press,  1949.  Pp.  248.) 

Parallel  Lines  in  Piedmont  North  Carolina  Quaker  and  Moravian  History: 
The  Historical  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Two  Hundred  and  Fifty-Second 
Session  of  Noi-th  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting,  Eighth  Month,  the  Third,  1949. 
(N.  p.,  North  Carolina  Friends  Historical  Society,  n.  d.  Pp.  16.) 


Adelaide  Lisetta  Fries  7 

The  following  works  were  written  or  edited  in  conjunction 
with  others : 

The  Moravian  Church:  Yesterday  and  Today.  (Raleigh:  Edwards  and 
Broughton,  1926.  Pp.  xi,  154.)  With  J.  Kenneth  Pfohl. 

Edward  Rondthaler,  The  Memorabilia  of  Fifty  Years:  1877  to  1927. 
Foreword  by  Adelaide  L.  Fries,  H.  A.  Pfohl,  Thomas  E.  Kapp,  and  Rufus 
A.  Shore.   (Raleigh:  Edwards  and  Broughton,  1928.  Pp.  xii,  520.) 

Edward  Rondthaler,  Appendix  to  the  Memorabilia  of  Fifty  Years.  Fore- 
word by  Adelaide  L.  Fries,  H.  A.  Pfohl,  Thomas  E.  Kapp,  and  Rufus  A. 
Shore.   (Raleigh:  Edwards  and  Broughton,  1931.  Pp.  58.) 

Guide  to  the  Manuscripts  in  the  Archives  of  the  Moravian  Church  in 
America,  Southern  Province.  Prepared  by  the  North  Carolina  Historical 
Records  Survey,  Division  of  Community  Service  Programs,  Works  Progress 
Administration  (Raleigh:  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Records  Survey, 
1942.  Pp.  vii,  138.) 


A  BOOK  PEDLAR'S  PROGRESS  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA 

By  James  S.  Purcell 

An  interesting  chapter  in  the  Kulturgeschichte  of  early  North 
Carolina  recounts  the  activities  of  a  colorful  colporteur,  the 
Reverend  Mason  Locke  Weems,  who  for  two  decades  travelled 
throughout  the  state.  The  journeys  of  this  zealous  bookselling 
parson,  better  known  as  the  highly  imaginative  biographer  of 
George  Washington,  can  be  traced  in  his  letters,1  but  the  story 
becomes  considerably  more  enlightening  with  the  addition  of 
notices  in  contemporary  newspapers  and  comments  in  letters  and 
diaries  of  North  Carolinians  with  whom  he  had  dealings. 

The  Parson's  interest  in  North  Carolina  as  a  book  market  first 
became  evident  in  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  Virginia  &  North  Carolina  Almanac,  For  the  Year  of  Our 
Lord  1800  . . .  made  its  appearance,  doubtless,  in  the  fall  of  1799.2 
This  bipartite  almanac  of  thirty-seven  pages  was  printed  in 
Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  "for  the  Rev.  Mason  L.  Weems."  It  was 
obviously  an  economical  bid  by  Weems  for  a  part  of  the  lucrative 
almanac  monopoly  enjoyed  in  the  upper  part  of  North  Carolina 
by  Abraham  Hodge,  editor  of  the  North-Carolina  Journal  at 
Halifax.  The  title  page  was  an  almost  exact  reproduction  of  that 
of  Weems's  Virginia  almanac;  the  text  varied  only  in  that  the 
court  calendar  included  the  courts  of  North  Carolina  and  Mary- 
land as  well  as  those  of  Virginia.  The  reading  matter  "designed 
for  entertainment  and  instruction"  was  the  same — unsigned  ex- 
cerpts from  Weems's  own  Hymen's  Recruiting  Serjeant? 

But  Weems's  chief  interest  in  North  Carolina  in  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century  was  in  securing  subscriptions  to  Chief 
Justice  Marshall's  monumental  Life  of  Washington  which  had 


1  Emily  Ellsworth  Skeel,  Mason  Locke.  Weems,  His  Works  and  Ways  (New  York,  1929). 
This  rare  work  was  begun  by  Mrs.  Skeel's  brother,  Paul  Leicester  Ford.  There  are  three 
volumes;  the  letters,  with  copious  notes,  appear  in  the  second  and  third  volumes,  of  which 
only   300   copies   were   printed. 

Mason  Locke  Weems  (October  11,  1759-May  23,  1825),  Episcopal  clergyman,  book  agent, 
publisher,  and  writer,  was  born  in  Anne  Arundel  County,  Maryland.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Anglican  priesthood,  September  12,  1784,  and  served  parishes  in  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
notably  Pohick  Church  (and  thus  became  "Formerly  Rector  of  Mt.  Vernon  Parish").  For 
thirty-one  years,  from  1794  until  his  death  in  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  he  was  a  zestful 
bookseller,  chiefly  as  the  agent  of  Mathew  Carey  of  Philadelphia,  wandering  up  and  down 
the  eastern  seaboard  but  maintaining  his  family  of  ten  children  among  his  wife's  people  in 
Dumfries,   Virginia. 

2  Copy  in  library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass. 

8  Hymen's  Recruiting  Serjeant,  Weems's  "sweet  persuasions  to  wedlock,"  was  published 
in  two  parts,  the  first  in  1799  and  the  second  in  1800.  This  pamphlet,  with  The  Drunkard's 
Looking  Glass  (1812)  and  God's  Revenge  Against  Adultery  (1815),  appears  in  Mrs.  Skeel's 
edition   of   Three  Discourses  by  Mason   Locke   Weems    (New   York,    1929). 

[8] 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina         9 

been  announced  for  publication  by  C.  P.  Wayne  of  Philadelphia. 
In  the  early  fall  of  1802  Wayne  had  advertised  in  a  North  Caro- 
lina newspaper : 

Life  of  General  Washington 
The  Subscriber 
Having  purchased  for  publishing  it  by  subscription.  .  .  .  The 
work  will  be  handsomely  printed,  with  a  new  type,  on  vellum 
paper,  hot-pressed,  to  be  comprised  in  four  or  five  octavo  volumes 
of  from  450  to  500  pages  each.  .  .  .  The  price  to  subscribers  will 
be  three  Dollars  each  Volume  in  Boards;  and  the  Price  of  one 
Volume  to  be  paid  in  advance,  on  subscribing ;  this  advance  to  be 
continued  with  each  Volume,  until  the  work  is  completed.  .  .  .4 

To  this  notice  Wayne  added  a  note :  "The  Publisher  intending  to 
visit  many  of  the  large  towns  of  the  United  States,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  Subscribers,  declines  at  present  employing 
Agents  for  that  purpose."  Weems's  persuasive  powers  must 
have  worked,  however,  for  he  was  soon  the  southern  representa- 
tive of  Wayne  and  about  a  year  later  appeared  in  North  Caro- 
lina.5 On  January  28,  1804,  he  wrote  to  Wayne  from  Fayetteville, 
where  he  found  himself  engaged  in  supplementing  the  subscrip- 
tions already  obtained  by  the  local  bookseller: 

I  came  to  this  town  11  o'clock  this  morning, — found  that  a 
Mr.  McRae  (Post  Master)  had  obtained  15  subs.  This  dum- 
f ounded  me  somewhat —  but,  rallying,  I  fell  to  work,  and  greatly 
to  my  surprise,  obtain'd  22  more.  Mr.  Grove  (Member  of  Con- 
gress, last  session)  says  I  may  obtain  a  vast  many  more,  if  I  can 
but  attend  at  the  Superior  Court  here  23  of  April.  .  .  .6 

Weems  prided  himself  on  knowing  what  his  buyers  wanted — 
"feeling  the  pulse"  was  his  phrase.  He  insisted  that  fine  bindings 
be  sent  to  this  territory.  Recognizing  the  turbulent  political 
situation   in   North   Carolina   in  the   early   1800's,   he   wrote: 


4  Raleigh  Register,  October  19,   1802. 

5  From  his  letters  it  would  be  thought  that  Weems  travelled  south  of  Virginia  for  the 
first  time  in  1804.  But  it  is  likely  that  he  was  in  Georgia  as  early  as  1797.  The  Augusta 
Chronicle,  June  13,  1797,  states  that  the  Rev.  M.  L.  Weems  married  a  couple  in  Burke  County, 
Georgia,  on  May  28,   1797. 

6  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  290.  Duncan  MacRae,  long-time  postmaster,  bookseller,  and  general 
merchant  of  Fayetteville,  advertised  books  for  sale  in  the  Raleigh  Minerva,  August  13,  1804, 
and  the  Fayetteville  North  Carolina  Intelligencer,  October  11,  1806.  Records  of  his  trans- 
actions with  Mathew  Carey,  Philadelphia  publisher  and  bookseller,  from  1812  until  1818  can 
be  seen  in  the  collection  of  the  Mathew  Carey  accounts  at  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
Worcester,  Mass. 

Before  the  State  Assembly  of  1806  enacted  a  law  creating  a  superior  court  in  each  county, 
Fayetteville  was  one  of  the  eight  towns  in  the  state  where  superior  court  sessions  were  held 
twice   a   year. 

William  Barry  Grove  was  the  leading  Federalist  of  the  Fayetteville  area;  he  was  a  member 
of  Congress  from  1791  until  1803. 


10  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

"Nothing,  nothing  will  do  either  Feds  or  Denis  but  Calf  binding." 
Again  he  warned  Wayne  from  Fayetteville :  "Take  notice,  No- 
body will  subscribe  for  the  work  in  boards."  And  from  Halifax 
he  was  asking  for   "cataracts  of  Books — Gilt  and  all  Gilt."7 

Although  he  was  chiefly  concerned  with  getting  subscriptions 
to  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  Weems  had  other  irons  in  the 
fire.  From  Fayetteville  he  reported  to  Wayne:  "I  have  taken  a 
light  carriage  with  a  driver  to  vend  some  little  Books  while  I 
shd  be,  (for  my  own  sake)  employ d  in  getting  Subs  to  Washing- 
ton."8 Meanwhile,  he  was  also  selling  books  for  Mathew  Carey, 
the  Philadelphia  bookseller  with  whom  he  maintained  an  oft- 
strained  connection  for  more  than  twenty  years.  After  a  week 
in  Fayetteville  he  left  for  Wilmington  and  wrote  Carey  from 
there :  "As  I  have  your  little  stage  with  me  (having  parted  with 
my  own  .  .  .)  I  shall  be  willing  that  Mrs.  Weems'  brother,  who 
drives  me,  shall  try  to  vend  some  Bibles  for  you."9  He  requested 
that  a  box  of  assorted  books  be  sent  him  "also  my  4  [00]  or  500 
Hymen  recruitg  Serjeant  no.  2,  I  mean  the  'Nest  of  Love/  In 
these  warm  latitudes  there  is  a  great  call  for  both  Nos  but  the 
1st  is  unfortunately  run  out." 

Weems,  with  his  fiddle,  continued  his  journey  south,  can- 
vassed parts  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  in  June  re- 
turned northward  through  piedmont  North  Carolina.  At 
Salisbury  he  presented  a  letter  of  introduction  from  John  Chest- 
nut of  Camden,  South  Carolina,  to  General  John  Steele,  former 
Comptroller  of  the  United  States.  Chestnut  wrote : 

The  Revd  Mr.  Weems  is  on  his  way  northward,  and  purposes 
taking  Salisbury  on  his  way,  and  being  a  Stranger  in  that  town, 
I  take  the  liberty  to  recommend  him  to  your  civilities  &  attention. 

He  is  procuring  Subscriptions  for  the  Life  of  General  Wash- 
ington wch  will  soon  be  published — and  I  presume  the  life  of  that 
great  &  worthy  man — Written  by  Judge  Marshall,  will  be  eagerly 
sought  for  by  every  enlightened  American.  .  .  .10 

The  results  of  the  Weems-Steele  association  will  be  told  later. 


7  Weems  to  Wayne,  Halifax,  N.  C,  February  9,   1805,   Skeel,   Weems,  II,  313. 

8  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  291. 

9  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  292.  Carey's  Family  Bible  was  an  exceedingly  popular  item;  it  was 
frequently  advertised  in  North  Carolina  newspapers.  Weems  once  wrote  Carey:  "I  could 
make  a  good  living  by  the  Bible  &  Washington  [Weems's  .  .  .  Washington]  alone."  Skeel 
Weems,  III,  73. 

10  Chestnut  to  Steele,  Camden,  S.  C,  June  17,  1804,  H.  M.  Wagstaff,  ed.,  The  Papers  of 
John  Steele   (Raleigh,   1924),  I,  435. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        11 

From  Chapel  Hill,  Weems  complained  again  to  Wayne  of  a 
matter  that  he  had  met  with  at  Fayetteville — that  he  was  forced 
to  compete  with  the  local  booksellers.  Consequently  he  advised 
his  employer: 

...  I  beg  you  not  to  send  any  books  to  any  town  for  my  Sub- 
scribers. You  wd  also  very  seriously  oblige  me  if  you  were  to 
furnish  to  your  Post  Masters,  Book  venders  &c  &c  who  have 
taken  subs,  no  more  copies  than  for  their  subscribers.  I.E.,  I  shd 
be  glad  to  see  this  business  confin'd  (if  possible)  to  Mr.  Ormond 
and  myself.  By  chipping  &  frittering  it  away  among  a  thousand 
little  whippers  in,  you  will  make  it  uninteresting  to  us,  and  hence 
must  ensue  a  languor  dangerous  to  the  whole  enterprize.11 

He  also  told  Wayne  of  his  plans  to  take  New  Bern  on  his  way  to 
the  South — "Reports  of  well-informed  Persons  make  that  place 
worth  80  or  100  copies" — and  begged  him  not  to  send  any  books 
to  the  booksellers  there. 

The  beginning  of  the  following  year,  1805,  saw  Weems  again 
in  North  Carolina,  writing  to  Wayne  from  Halifax  for  "cataracts 
of  Books"  and  promising  to  remit  three  or  four  hundred  dollars 
from  Warrenton.12  A  few  days  later  he  was  in  Warrenton  calling 
for  more  books :  "I  shall  want  a  host  of  books  this  campaign."13 
From  Tarboro,  ten  days  later,  he  tallied  up  his  remittances  and 
remarked:  "Well  3000$  in  10  weeks  is  not  quite  so  bad — and 
hardly  any  books  to  boot ! ! !  What  might  I  not  do,  well  kept  in 
blast  [ballast?]  ?  O  think  of  that  and  reform!"14 

Weems  was  having  other  troubles  too.  The  first  edition  of  the 
volumes  he  had  promised  to  the  subscribers — volumes  one  and 
two — was  exhausted  and  he  was  having  to  deliver  the  second 
edition,  which  was  received  with  bad  grace.  When  he  was  calling 
for  books,  Weems  had  repeatedly  pleaded  with  Wayne,  "for  your 
own  sake,  all  of  edit.  No.  1."  From  Tarboro  he  tried  another  ap- 
proach: "Wou'd  God  you  cou'd  send  the  2d  edit,  to  Ormond  & 
the  Puritans  of  the  North.  'Tis  their  profession  to  bear  &  for- 
bear and  to  do  good  for  evil.  The  people  in  the  South  are  Infidels. 
They  will  run  horn  mad  if  you  vex  'em  in  the  Life  of  Wash."15 


"  Weems  to  Wayne,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  July  11,  1804,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  300.  John  Ormond 
was  Weems's  less  colorful  counterpart  in  the  northern  states. 

12  Weems  to  Wayne,  Halifax,   N.  C,   February  9,   1805,   Skeel,    Weems,   II,   313. 

13  "Weems  to  Wayne,  Warrenton,  N.  C,  February  14,   1805,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,  314. 
"Weems  to  Wayne,  Tarboro,  N.  C,  February  25,   1805,   Skeel,   Weems,  II,   315. 

15  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  315.  According  to  Weems  the  paper  of  the  second  edition  was  "so  thin 
as  to  make  the  volume  but  half  as  thick  as  the  former." 


12  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Several  weeks  later,  in  New  Bern  he  reiterated  this  theme :  "The 
people  there  [in  the  North]  are  more  religious  than  they  are 
here,  and  wd  not  curse  &  swear  so  sadly  under  what  they  might 
deem  ill  treatment."16 

On  this  1805  jaunt  the  Parson  evidently  was  alone  in  his 
travels.  From  New  Bern  he  wrote  Wayne  that  he  was  returning 
"some  little  miscellaneous  books  which  I  had  planned  and  meant 
to  vend  for  mutual  benefit."  He  had  nobody  with  him  to  attend 
to  "this  Tom  Thumb  Merchandize.',  He  must  devote  all  his  time 
and  efforts  to  the  Washington  and  found  that  "the  sale  of  this 
trumpery  wd  prove  a  most  serious  hindrance  to  the  Great 
Work."17 

The  Raleigh  area  was  evidently  missed  in  the  1805  journey. 
The  persons  in  the  environs  of  the  capital  of  the  state  who  had 
placed  their  subscriptions  with  one  of  the  two  local  booksellers 
had  received  their  two  volumes  in  November,  1804,  and  in 
March,  1805,  had  promise  of  the  third.18  Joseph  Gales,  the  editor 
of  the  Raleigh  Register,  who  with  his  wife,  Winifred,  had  a 
flourishing  book  business,  doubtless  took  pleasure  in  inserting 
this  item  into  his  local  news  column : 


A  Subscriber  wishes  published  the  following 

QUERY 
How  will  those  persons  who  subscribed  with  Mr.  Weems  for 
the  Life  of  Washington,  find  where  he  is  or  when  he  means  to 
deliver  them  their  books,  or  how  are  they  to  get  either  the  books 
or  the  money?19 

This  restive  spirit  in  the  vicinity  of  the  capital  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  success  of  the  bookselling  Parson  in  other  sections 
of  the  state.  The  subscription  canvass  of  1806  took  him  to  the 
seaboard  towns  for  a  stay  of  almost  three  months,  and  profitable 
months  they  were.  He  reported  to  Wayne  on  his  collections : 

Since  March  (the  beginning  of)  I  have  sent  you,  as  follows  from 

w  Weems  to  Wayne,  New  Bern,  N.  C,  March  10,  1805,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,  316. 
i7Skeel,   Weems,  II,  316. 

18  Joseph  Gales  announced  on  November  6,  1804,  that  "Subscribers  to  the  Life  of  Washing- 
ton .  .  .  may  have  their  books  on  application."  Raleigh  Register,  November  12,  1804.  William 
Boylan,  bookseller  and  editor  of  the  Minerva,  advertised  that  at  the  sitting  of  the  legislature, 
November  8,  1804,  he  would  have  for  dispersal  the  first  and  second  volumes.  Minerva,  Oc- 
tober 29,   1804. 

19  Raleigh  Register,  October  14,  1805. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        13 

Norfolk  921     Newbern  500 

Warrenton  654     Wilmington  500 

Louisburg  100     Do  500 

Washington  [N.  C]     50     do  draft  on  D.Ware  742.70 

Do  100 

1,725     Do  88 

now  Charleston  400 


4,555.70,20 


Weems  doubtless  kept  out  his  own  commission,  usually  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  which,  if  included,  would  indicate  sales  of  more 
than  four  thousand  dollars  in  North  Carolina.  This  amount,  while 
it  bespeaks  a  literary  interest  in  the  state,  also  bears  out  Weems's 
modest  statement  about  his  abilities:  "The  world  is  pleased  to 
say  that  I  have  talents  at  the  subscription  business."21 

The  fifth  and  final  volume  of  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington, 
excepting  the  promised  atlas,  was  published  in  1807.  But  Weems's 
work  with  the  book  in  North  Carolina  was  far  from  done.  Many 
of  his  customers  were  complaining  of  non-delivery;  Weems  did 
"vex  'em  in  the  Life  of  Wash."  and  they  were  running  horn  mad. 
In  Edenton  the  Parson's  defection  was  proclaimed  in  the  news- 
paper. 

Mr.  Editor, 

Can  you  inform  us  what  has  become  of  a  certain  Parson 
Weems,  who  passed  through  this  State  some  time  ago  fiddling 
and  hawking  the  Life  of  Gen.  Washington,  written  by  Judge 
Marshall,  that  same  Judge  who  is  now  presiding  on  the  trial 
of  Aaron  Burr,  and  who  wanted  to  give  judgment  for  half  of 
North  Carolina  in  favour  of  the  Earl  of  Granville's  heirs?  Now 
if  the  said  Weems  does  not  shortly  let  us  hear  from  him,  and 
appoint  time  and  place  when  and  where  he  will  deliver  the  bal- 
ance of  the  work,  or  return  the  money  he  has  pocketed  from  the 
subscribers,  we  shall  as  soon  as  the  trial  of  said  Burr  is  over,  lay 
the  matter  bef ore  the  Judge  himself.  .  .  ,22 

Evidence  of  collective  exhaustion  of  patience  in  Tarboro  came  to 
Wayne  himself.  "Sundry  Inhabitants  of  Tarboro,  N.  C." — four- 
teen in  number — signed  the  following  letter  of  grievance : 


20  Weems  to  Wayne,  Charleston,  S.  C,  June  5,  1806,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  335.  For  some  rea. 
son  or  other  Weems,  later  in  his  letter,  reported  thus  unflatteringly  about  a  North  Carolina 
town:  "That  Louisburg  is  a  Devil  of  a  place.  This  is  the  2d  time  that  I've  been  in  the 
frights   about   it." 

21  Weems  to  Wayne,  Norfolk,  Va.,  January  25,  1805,  "A  Weems  Letter,"  American  His- 
torical Record,  II   (February,  1873),  82. 

22  Edenton  Gazette,  October  15,  1807. 


14  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

We  the  undersigned  beg  leave  to  represent  to  Mr.  C.  P. 
Wayne — that  we  became  Subscribers  to  the  "Life  of  Washing- 
ton" &  paid  Mr.  Weems  $12 — upon  receipt  of  the  1st  and  2d 
volumes  of  the  work — that  in  April  1806  we  received  from  Mr. 
Weems  the  4th  volume  &  paid  him  $8  the  balance  of  the  sub- 
scription money — since  which  time,  altho'  we  have  repeatedly, 
through  Genl.  Thos.  Blount  made  application  to  Mr.  Weams 
[sic']  for  the  remaining  volumes — promises  to  deliver  them  are 
all  we  have  been  able  to  procure.  We  therefore  desire  to  know 
of  Mr.  Wayne  whether  we  are  to  rely  on  Mr.  Weams  [sic]  for 
the  volumes  still  wanting  (in  which  case  we  must  abandon  all 
expectation  of  receiving  them)  or  whether  he  Mr.  Wayne  will 
deliver  them.  If  the  latter  Dr.  Battle  will  receive  &  forward  them 
to  us.  .  .  .23 

When  Wayne  relayed  these  complaints  to  his  southern  represent- 
ative, Weems  answered : 

It  grieves  me  that  you  should  credit  the  "distressing  accounts'' 
as  you  call  them,  that  are  sent  to  you.  .  .  .  Certainly  Mr.  Wayne 
you  must  know  that  the  communications  are  from  some  Malig- 
nant Rascals  or  other — So  help  me  God,  I  have  separated  myself 
from  a  most  affect  wife  &  family  for  24  months  &  about  two 
thirds  of  that  time  were  spent  in  plying  between  Augusta,  Wash- 
ington, Louisville,  &c  &c  to  distribute  the  books  &  receive  monies 
for  you !  Was  I  not  at  Georgetown  8  days — at  Newbern  8  days — 
at  Wilmington  6  days — with  the  1.2d.3d.  &  4th  vols  distributed 
to  all  who  wd  receive — for  many  swore  they  wou'd  not  receive 
till  they  cou'd  see  the  last  Vols  &  Atlass.  At  Fayette  [ville]  I  had 
but  a  few  Subs,  and  I  beggd  McCrae  [MacRae]  to  distribute  to 
them  he  having  tendered  his  services  thereto.  .  .  ,24 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  of  Weems  and  Marshall's 
Life  of  Washington  was  heard  in  the  notice  in  the  columns  of  an 
Edenton  newspaper,  September  24,  1811,  nearly  four  years  after 
the  publication  of  the  final  volume: 

We  are  desired  by  the  Rev.  M.  L.  Weems,  to  inform  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  life  of  Washington,  that  their  Books,  elegantly 
finished,  will  be  ready  for  delivery  at  our  Superior  Court  on 
Monday  next.25 

On  the  same  day  from  Warrenton,  Weems  wrote  to  Mathew 
Carey,  the  Philadelphian  for  whom  he  was  to  work  full  time, 


as  Thomas  Blount  Hudson  et  al.  to  Wayne,  Tarboro,  N.  C,  May  30,  1808,  Skeel,  Weems,  II, 
377. 

24  Weems  to  Wayne,  Dumfries,  Va.,  June  20,  1808,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,  380. 

25  Edenton  Gazette,  September  24,  1811. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        15 

that  he  had  just  returned  from  the  towns  in  eastern  North 
Carolina,  "Whither  I  went  on  Mr.  Wayne's  business,  which  as  you 
well  know,  I  was  bound  to  wind  up."26 

Even  while  he  was  canvassing  and  collecting  for  Wayne, 
Weems  was  also  peddling  books  for  Carey.  During  the  years 
1809  and  1810  he  sold  $24,000  worth  of  books  for  him  in  the 
South.27  Ever  zealous  in  his  plans  for  Carey  and  himself,  the 
Parson  wrote  to  his  new  employer :  "I  pray  you  to  spend  no  more 
paper,  ink,  nor  time  nor  argument  to  persuade  me  to  exertion 
and  Perseverance  in  circulating  Valuable  Books,  I  am  chockfull 
of  Zeal  burning  with  the  Book  fever  and  so  are  you."28  Weems 
asked  Carey — "10000  times  begg'd"  him — for  permission  "to  go 
through  1000  neighbourhoods  feeling  the  pulse  of  Preachers, 
Schoolmasters"  and  suiting  a  book  assortment  to  the  taste  of  the 
"Religion,  Politics,  and  general  reading  of  the  people."29  He  told 
Carey  what  he  desired  of  him — "supply  me  plenty  of  books  and 
let  me  choose  the  Books  &  allow  some  reasonable  seed  time" — and 
expected  to  establish  for  the  Philadelphia  bookseller  "from  2  [00] 
to  300  illuminating,  moralizing  book  stores."30 

In  1808  Weems  was  making  some  progress  in  North  Carolina 
with  his  grandiose  plans.  He  ignored  the  seaboard  towns  but 
recognized  the  possibilities  of  the  piedmont  area31 — "the  middle 
and  western  counties,  villages,  &c  &c  be  my  range."  He  wrote 
enthusiastically  to  Carey:  "I  shall  want  in  toto  pro  tempore 
presenti  .  .  .  1000,  Peter  Davis  Warrenton,  N.  Carolina — 1000, 
Colo.  Vaughan  Mercht.  Williamsboro  No.  Carolina — 2000  to 
Genl  Steel  (former  Comptroller  Genl  U.  S.)  Salisbury,  N.  Caro- 
lina."32 


26  Weems  to  Carey,  Warrenton,  N.  C,  September  24,  1811,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  54. 

27  William  A.  Bryan,  ed.,  "Three  Unpublished  Letters  of  Parson  Weems,"  William  and 
Mary  Quarterly,  2nd.  series,  XXXIII   (July,  1943),  275. 

28  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va.,  August  24,  1809,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,  420. 

29  Weems  to  Carey,  Columbia,  S.  C,  December  18,  1809,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  429. 

30  Weems  to  Carey,  Columbia,  S.  C,  December  13,  1809,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  428.  As  early 
as  May  22,  1806,  writing  to  Carey  from  Wilmington,  Weems  had  suggested  the  chain  of 
bookstores:  "Let  me,  or  any  other  Person,  establish  1,  2,  or  300  very  safe  &  judicious  Little 
Book  stores  throughout  these  Southern  States.  These  1,  2,  or  300  very  safe,  because  well 
chosen,  Gentlemen  may  be  vending  books  &  remitting  monies  at  the  same  time.  Under 
proper  management,  i  e  of  Books  well  selected,  and  store  keepers  well  chosen,  I  am  very  sure 
that  immense  Good  may  be  done  to  the  Country  &  immense  profit  may  accrue  to  yourself." 
Skeel,  Weems,  II,  334.  In  the  fall  of  1811,  Weems  at  least  regarded  the  matter  as  a  fait 
accompli:  "3  weeks  more  &  I  shall  enter  on  the  cordon  of  your  book  stores  established  2 
years  ago."  Weems  to  Carey,  Warrenton,  N.  C,  September  24,  1811,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  54. 

31  The  Parson  believed  heartily  in  the  idea  of  cheap  books  for  all:  "It  is  but  rare  that  I 
want  to  see  an  Author  that  stands  higher  than  a  dollar."  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va., 
March  25,  1809,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  398. 

32  Weems  to  Carey,  n.  p.,   September  29,    1818,   Skeel,    Weems,   II,   380. 

Peter  R.  Davis  was  postmaster  at  Warrenton  from  1805  until  1807;  Colonel  James  Vaughan 
was  a  planter  near  Williamsboro,  Granville  County;  and  General  John  Steele,  after  retiring  as 
Comptroller  General  in  1802,  was  regarded  as  the  "most  conspicuous  member  of  the 
Federalist  party  in  North  Carolina." 


16  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

In  the  case  of  General  Steele,  one  of  early  North  Carolina's 
favored  sons,  Weems's  enthusiasm  for  bookselling  seems  to  have 
exceeded  the  bounds  of  accepted  decorum.  The  Parson  had  been 
recommended  to  the  "civilities  &  attention"  of  the  General  back 
in  the  Life  of  Washington  canvass  days  of  1804.  Weems,  who  was 
no  respector  of  persons,  evidently  presumed  too  much  as  this 
apologetic  letter  from  Carey  to  Steele  explains: 

Your  favor  of  the  14th.  which  I  read  yesterday,  has  astonished 
me  inexpressibly,  &  affords  an  additional  proof  of  the  extreme 
incorrectness  of  Mr.  Weems's  conduct,  which  has  produced  the 
most  serious  inconvenience  &  injury  to  me.  He  gave  me  clearly 
&  explicitly  to  understand  that  you  were  zealously  disposed,  & 
even  eager  to  cooperate  with  him  &  myself  in  the  sale  of  Books — 
else>  Sir,  be  assured  I  should  never  have  troubled  you  with  a 
Book,  or  with  my  correspondence.  I  had  no  idea  that  your  agency 
in  the  business  was  to  be  merely  "to  request  one  of  the  Store- 
keepers to  receive  them" ;  I  assuredly  believed  you  were  to  dis- 
pose of  them  yourself,  &  conceived  you  were  a  Storekeeper,  or 
merchant — not  a  planter.  Should  the  Books  arrive,  I  request  Sir, 
you  will  have  them  stored  somewhere  till  I  take  the  necessary 
steps  to  dispose  of  them.  By  no  means  deliver  them  to  any  Store- 
keeper for  sale.  .  .  ,33 

For  his  part  Weems  blamed  Carey.  In  a  later  recital  of  his 
grievances  to  his  employer  he  included  this:  "Nor  would  Genl. 
Steele  of  Salisbury  have  anything  to  do  with  three  boxes  sent  to 
Petersburg  for  him,  on  getting  your  uncivil  letters  to  him !  !"34 

Despite  such  rebuffs  Weems  maintained  that  his  zeal  was 
"equal  to  that  of  any  Adventurer  in  this  Great  Work  of  circu- 
lating good  books  &  useful  knowledge."35  He  complained,  how- 
ever, that  his  plan  for  selling  had  "never  yet  had  a  fair  trial." 
Carey  would  not  let  him  "go  forward  &  choose  books  for  the 
places"  but  insisted  on  "pushing  on  the  books  at  random"  and 
consequently  committed  "errors  equal  to  those  of  sending  'fiddles 
to  Methodist  meetinghouses.'  "36  But  the  Parson  persevered ; 
during  the  summer  of  1811  he  was  in  the  north  central  part  of 
the  state.  Here  he  had  more  success  in  his  dealings  with  his  local 


33  Carey  to  John  Steele,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  January  24,  1810,  Steele  Papers,  North  Carolina 
Historical  Society,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C.  H.  M.  Wagstaff,  ed.,  The  Papers  of  John  Steele,  620, 
published  this  letter  but  erroneously  read  "Weaver's  for  "Weems."  The  word  is  clearly 
"Weems's." 

Carey  need  not  have  been  quite  so  abject.  In  his  youth,  Steele  had  engaged  in  "practicing 
merchandising";  after  his  death  in  1815  his  widow  kept  the  famous  Steele's  Tavern  in 
Salisbury. 

34  Weems  to  Carey,  Richmond,  Va.,  November  21,   1811,  Skeel,   Weems,  III,  56. 

35  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va.,  November  23,   1811,   Skeel,   Weems,  III,  57. 

36  "Weems  to  Carey,  Lexington,  Va.,  March  15,  1811,  Skeel,   Weems,  III,  41. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        17 

agent,  the  prominent  and  wealthy  Thomas  Jeffreys  of  Red  House 
in  Caswell  County,  whose  sales  from  the  collection  of  books  left 
with  him  amounted  to  nearly  two  hundred  dollars.  The  recently 
built  local  academy  was  also  to  be  furnished  with  books,  at  six 
cents  above  the  Philadelphia  prices.37 

On  this  journey  Weems  went  again  to  Louisburg,  that  "Devil 
of  a  place."  His  letter  from  there  suggests  the  literary  tastes  of 
some  North  Carolinians  in  1811 : 

I  was  much  importuned  for  the  following  books.  ...  6  Salma- 
gundi— 6  Yankee  in  London,  and  some  of  the  latest  &  best 
treatises  on  the  Military  Art.  And  some  of  the  newest  &  most 
popular  pamphlets,  &  some  droll,  dashing  pieces  in  the  way  of 
Biography,  pictures  of  living  manners.  Wit,  humor.  .  .  .38 

The  following  year  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  1812  curtailed 
somewhat  Weems's  bookselling  activities  in  the  state.  Carey 
wrote  him:  "The  declaration  of  war  deranges  all  our  plans.  I 
must  not  send  goods  to  N.  or  South  Carolina  or  Georgia  as  no 
insurance  can  be  made  on  them."39  Weems  continued  with  his 
plans  for  a  trip  to  North  Carolina  to  look  after  the  books  that  had 
already  been  distributed  there.  The  "sickly  season"  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1812  he  spent  in  the  "upper  &  healthy  parts"  of  the  state, 
progressing  from  court  session  to  court  session,  selling  books  and 
collecting  old  debts.40  The  next  spring,  accompanied  by  his 
nephew,  Elijah  Weems,  he  was  again  hawking  books  at  the  court 
gatherings  in  the  northern  section.  Two  weeks  later  Elijah  was 
left  to  work  the  court  crowd  at  Northampton  while  the  Parson 
went  to  Petersburg,  Virginia,  to  replenish  his  stock,  preparatory 
to  assaulting  Halifax.41 


37  Weems  to  Carey,  Red  House,  N.  C,  August  30,  1811,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  53.  These  books 
were  to  be  sent  from  a  store  in  Petersburg,  where  Weems  was  constantly  advising  Carey  to 
keep  a  good  stock  of  books.  "From  Petersburg  they  can  be  sent  at  any  time  to  almost  any 
part  of  N.  Carolina."  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va.,  September  8,  1812,  Skeel,  Weems, 
III,  80. 

38  Weems  to  Carey,  Louisburg,  N.  C,  September  4,  1811,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  54.  Salmagundi; 
or,  the  Whim-Whams  and  Opinions  of  Launcelot  Langstaff,  Esq.  and  Others  ...  by  Washing- 
ton Irving,  James  Kirke  Paulding,  and  William  Irving  was  published  in  1807;  The  Yankee 
in  London,  Being  the  First  Part  of  a  Series  of  Letters  Written  by  an  American  Youth, 
during  Nine  Month's  Residence  in  the  City  of  London,  attributed  to  Royall  Tyler,  was 
published   in   1809. 

30  Carey  to  Weems,   Philadelphia,   Pa.,   June   12,   1812,   Skeel,    Weems,   III,   70. 

40  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va.,  July  15,  1812,  Skeel,   Weems,  III,  72-73. 

41  Weems  to  Carey,  Petersburg,  Va.,  April  29,  1813,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  94.  The  previous 
fall  the  elder  Weems  had  recommended  Elijah  highly  to  Carey:  "I  have  an  extraordinary 
young  man,  a  Nephew,  of  singular  activity  and  smartness  and  with  a  couple  of  thousand 
dollars  in  hand,  who  is  very  anxious  to  join  me  in  the  spring."  Mrs.  Skeel  would  have  ques- 
tioned the  Parson's  judgment  in  leaving  Elijah  alone  at  Northampton;  by  reading  between 
the  lines  of  the  letters,  she  decided  that  "Elijah's  habits  were  uncertain  and  his  reliability 
not  above  suspicion."   Skeel,   Weems,  III,   83. 

Elijah  Weems  was  for  a  short  time  a  resident  of  North  Carolina.  Early  in  1815  he  opened 


18  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

There  are  no  extant  records  to  indicate  that  Parson  Weems 
was  in  North  Carolina  in  the  years  between  his  1813  visit  and 
the  early  summer  of  1821,  when  he  was  busy  in  the  seaboard 
area  of  the  state.42  In  the  winter  of  1821-1822  he  was  in  the 
piedmont  section,  appearing  with  his  boxes  of  books  in  Halifax, 
Murfreesboro,  Greensboro,  Raleigh,  Chapel  Hill,  and  Hillsboro.43 
Surely  he  must  have  included  some  section  of  the  state  in  his  fate- 
ful itinerary  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  died  on  May  23,  1825. 
The  obituary  that  appeared  in  the  Warrenton  Reporter,  July  8, 
1825,  is  one  of  the  standard  sources  of  information  about  his 
life.44  In  the  Raleigh  Register,  July  12,  1825,  Joseph  Gales  wrote 
feelingly  of  the  deceased  Parson  "as  the  author  of  the  Life  of 
Washington,  and  various  other  popular  works,  which  have  passed 
through  numerous  editions,  and  have  had  a  most  extensive  circu- 
lation" ;  he  described  him  as  "a  man  of  very  considerable  attain- 
ment both  as  a  scholar,  a  physician  and  divine";  but  he  dwelt 
most  on  his  lifetime  of  bookselling: 

[He]  voluntarily  commenced  a  career  of  incessant  bodily  toil,  to 
disseminate  moral  and  religious  books  in  various  remote  and 
destitute  portions  of  the  country.  From  Pennsylvania  to  the 
frontiers  of  Georgia  was  the  principal  theatre  of  his  indefati- 
gable labors,  and  it  is  supposed  on  good  authority,  that  in  the 
course  of  his  life  he  has  been  instrumental  in  circulating  nearly 
a  million  copies  of  the  scriptures  and  other  valuable  works.  That 
in  this  laborious  calling  he  was  principally  actuated  by  an  ex- 
panded philanthropy,  is  proved  by  his  entire  neglect  of  the 
means  of  accumulating  a  large  fortune  and  dying  in  compara- 
tive poverty.  . . .  He  finally  fell  a  martyr  to  his  arduous  exertions 
to  do  good.  .  .  . 

The  influence  of  Parson  Weems  on  the  reading  habits  of  North 
Carolinians  in  the  early  1800's  was  not  limited  to  his  bookselling 
activities,  telling  as  they  were.  Weems's  own  moralizing  works, 
many  of  them  published  by  Carey,  were  popular,  some  of  them 

a  bookstore  in  Raleigh,  making  three  in  the  town  of  less  than  two  thousand  inhabitants, 
one-third  of  which  were  slaves.  Several  months  later  he  married  a  Raleigh  girl,  Miss  Mary 
Shaw  (Raleigh  Register,  November  17,  1815),  but  shortly  was  selling  his  stock  at  cost,  "ex- 
pecting to  move  to  the  North."  Raleigh  Register,  January  26,  1816. 

42  Carolina  Centinel   (New  Bern,  N.  C),  June  16,  1821. 

*3  Weems  to  Carey,  Halifax,  N.  C,  December  13,  1821,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  438;  Weems  to 
Carey,  Murfreesboro,  N.  C,  December  29,  1821,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  329;  Weems  to  Carey, 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  January  5,  1822,  Skeel,   Weems,  III,  330. 

44  Reprinted  in  Skeel,    Weems,  II,  439. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina       19 

exceedingly  so,  in  the  state.45  North  Carolina  absorbed  copy  after 
copy,  under  one  title  or  another,  of  Weems's  perennial  Life  of 
George  Washington.4*  Joseph  Gales  received  150  copies  for  his 
bookstore  in  1808.47  The  next  year  five  hundred  more  copies  were 
sent  to  Raleigh  and  one  hundred  to  Fayetteville.48  Doubtless  the 
books  consigned  to  Raleigh  were  sold  despite  Carey's  ineffective 
merchandizing,  for  which  he  was  taken  to  task  by  Weems :  "We 
shall  be  ruined  from  your  inattention  to  my  earnest  &  reiterated 
intreaties.  Why  were  not  Elegant  Advertisements  of  this  work, 
with  letters  critical  &  commendatory  by  Lee  &c  &c  printed  on 
colour'd  paper,  sent  in  the  box?"49  The  Parson's  Washington  had 
already  been  publicized  somewhat  in  Raleigh.  In  the  Minerva  of 
October  7, 1805,  Boylan's  North  Carolina  Almanack  for  1806  was 
advertised  as  containing  "Extracts  from  the  Rev.  M.  L.  Weems 
History  of  the  Life  of  George  Washington." 

The  Parson  believed  strongly  in  the  moralizing  influence  of 
books.  But  he  sagely  advised  Carey :  "Let  the  Moral  and  Religious 
be  as  highly  dulcified  as  possible."50  To  this  end  Weems  wrote 
several  palliatives — "my  little  Serio  comical  mello  dramatical 
pamphlets,"  he  called  them.  These  he  circulated  in  North  Carolina 
as  well  as  the  other  southern  states.  One  hundred  and  fifty  copies 
of  the  one  he  referred  to  as  "my  Mary  Findley"  were  sent  to 
Raleigh  in  the  fall  of  1808.51  This  account  of  wife  murder  in 


45  On  July  25,  1813,  Weems,  with  evident  petulance,  wrote  Carey  from  Dumfries,  Virginia: 
"All  the  books  that  I  shall  ever  want  of  yours,  will  be  the  Family  Bible  &  Washington 
[Weems's].  These  with  some  heavy  subscription  book  &  my  pamphlets,  will  serve  my  turn." 
Skeel,    Weems,   III,   97. 

46  The  title  of  the  original  work,  published  about  1800,  was  The  Life  and  Memorable 
Actions  of  George  Washington.  Astute  appraiser  of  humanity  that  he  was,  Weems  must 
have  noted  the  limited  appeal  of  Marshall's  ponderous  Washington  and  pushed  his  own 
ancedotal  account  as  being  more  suitable  for  reaching  the  really  wide  market  of  the  masses — 
his  aim  in  bookselling.  See  William  A.  Bryan,  "The  Genesis  of  Weems'  'Life  of  Washing- 
ton,'"  Americana,  XXXVI    (April,  1942),  147-167. 

47  Weems  to  Carey,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  September  29,  1808,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  382. 

48  Weems  to  Carey,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  November  27,  1809,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  424;  Weems  to 
Carey,  Columbia,  S.  C,  December  13,  1809,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,  427. 

49  Major  General  Henry  (Light-Horse  Harry)  Lee's  commendation  of  The  Life  of  George 
Washington,  first  printed  in  the  North  American  (Baltimore)  March  18,  1809,  was  used  on 
the  title  page  of  the  ninth  edition  (1809)  and  thereafter.  At  this  time  Weems's  book  was 
selling  phenomenally.  On  January  7,  1809,  Weems  had  written  Carey  about  the  printing 
of  five  thousand  copies  "of  your  spring  edition  of  the  Life  of  Washington  for  Petersburg, 
Norfolk,  Halifax,  Edinton — Tarboro,  Washington  [N.  C],  Newbern,  Fayette [ville],  Wil- 
mington, Geo.  Town,  Charleston,  &c  &c."  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  384.  Weems  knew  well  that 
his  book  was  selling.  In  one  of  their  periodic  fits  of  mutual  resentment  he  taunted  Carey: 
"And  let  me  tell  you,  once  for  all,  that  if  you  are  tired  of  the  connexion  I  shall  not  use 
argument  to  bind  you  to  it.  Give  me  back  my  little  book,  or  as  Nathan  wd  say,  my  little 
ewe-lamb  and  take  all  your  thousand  of  gigantic  authors  to  yourself."  Weems  to  Carey, 
Columbia,  S.  C,  December  13,  1809,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  427. 

50  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va„  June  18,  1797,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  44. 

As  a  pioneer  in  the  field  of  writing  for  the  young  and  self-educated,  Weems  deserves  a 
place  in  the  annals  of  American  literature. 

51  Weems  to  Carey,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  September  29,  1808,  Skeel,  Weems,  II,  382. 

In  the  "very  Handsome  collection  of  Wax  Figures  as  large  as  life"  that  was  on  display  at 
Capt.  William  Scott's  tavern  in  Raleigh,  December  17-23,  was  "Mary  Findley,  who  was 
drowned  by  her  husband  only  eight  weeks  after  marriage."   Star    (Raleigh),   December  20, 


20  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

South  Carolina,  God's  Revenge  against  Murder;  or,  the  Drown' d 
Wife  of  Stephen's  Creek  .  .  .  (1807),  sold  for  twenty-five  cents. 
When  this  pamphlet  was  republished  in  1809  with  a  slight  change 
of  title,  it  was  noted  to  this  extent  in  the  Raleigh  Star's  column 
of  brief  book  notices  called  "Literary  Intelligence" : 


The  Rev.  Mason  L.  Weems,  well  known  in  the  Southern  States 
as  agent  for  procuring  subscribers  for  the  Life  of  Washington, 
author  of  "Hymen's  Recruiting  Serjeant  or  a  Matrimonial  Tattoo 
for  the  Bachelors,"  and  several  other  whimsical  and  amusing 
publications,  has  lately  published  "The  Drown'd  Wife,  being  a 
faithful  history  of  the  beautiful,  but  unfortunate  Miss  Polly 
Middleton,  who,  after  bestowing  herself  with  a  fortune  of  four 
thousand  dollars  on  a  young  husband,  Mr.  Edward  Findley,  was 
barbarously  drowned  by  him  in  the  eighth  week  after  marriage." 

Doctor  Ramsay  gives  the  following  character  of  the  work: 

"No  man  can  read  this  pamphlet  without  having  his  risible 
faculties  often  excited — no  man  can  read  it  without  having  his 
horror  for  vice  and  his  respect  for  Virtue  increased.  The  Writer 
has  the  art  of  blending  instruction  with  amusement.  While  he 
keeps  his  readers  in  high  humor  by  the  frolicsomeness  of  his 
manner,  he  is  inculcating  upon  them  important  moral  and  reli- 
gious truths,  conducive  to  their  present  and  future  happiness."52 

Two  other  pamphlets  in  the  Revenge  series  were  more  closely 
connected  with  North  Carolina.  God's  Revenge  Against  Adultery 
Aivfully  Exemplified  in  the  Following  Cases  of  American  Crime 
.  .  .  (1815)  included  as  one  of  its  deterrents  the  case  of  "The 
Elegant  James  ONeale,  Esq.  (North  Carolina,)  who,  for  Se- 
ducing the  Beautiful  Miss  Matilda  Lestrange,  Was  Killed  by  Her 
Brother."  This  twenty-three-page  story  in  the  seduction  tradition 
was  based  on  a  tragic  incident,  doubtless  related  to  Weems  in  his 
travels,  that  took  place  in  the  Wilmington  area  around  1790. 
Weems,  and  perhaps  the  actual  circumstances,  made  sure  that 
seduction  was  the  capital  crime;  the  avenging  brother  was  im- 
prisoned for  manslaughter,  but  as  womankind's  hero  (soon  to  be 
pardoned  by  Governor  Alexander  Martin)   in  a  perfumed  and 


52  Star,  February  9,  1809.  Some  of  the  North  Carolina  newspaper  editors  tried  to  keep 
their  readers  informed  of  Weems's  activities.  Gales's  Raleigh  Register,  August  4,  1806, 
reported:  "Mr.  M.  L.  Weems,  now  at  Charleston,  S.  C.  has  published  in  the  Times,  two 
columns  of  commendatory  matter  upon  the  character  of  the  late  venerable,  and  justly 
lamented  George  Wythe,   Chancellor  of  Virginia." 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        21 

beflowered  cell.53  The  other  North  Carolinian  that  Weems  used  in 
his  crime-does-not-pay  series  was  not  written  up  so  extensively. 
In  God's  Revenge  against  Gambling  Exemplified  in  the  Miserable 
Lives  and  Untimely  Deaths  of  a  Number  of  Persons  of  Both 
Sexes  .  .  .  (1810),  the  three-page  account  of  "T.  Alston,  Esq. 
(N.  C.)  who,  from  Gambling  was  shot  by  Capt.  Johnson"  was 
only  one  of  six  examples  of  gamesters.  Not  only  did  Thomas 
Alston  of  Halifax  have  to  compete  with  gentlemen  from  Virginia 
and  Maryland  but  also  with  such  worthies  as  Marie  Antoinette 
and  Fanny  Braddock,  sister  of  General  Braddock. 

Another  moralistic  pamphlet  of  his  own  composition  that 
Weems  sold  in  North  Carolina  was  The  Drunkard's  Looking- 
Glass  Reflecting  a  Faithful  Likeness  of  the  Drunkard  .  . .  (1812) . 
In  the  fall  of  the  year  of  publication  the  author  was  at  his  home 
in  Dumfries,  Virginia,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  a  shipment  of  his 
pamphlet  with  which  he  "wd  set  off  immediately  to  N.  Caro- 
lina/'54 Three  weeks  later,  still  waiting,  he  wrote  exasperatedly 
to  Carey :  "But  for  the  faint  hope  it  may  do  some  good  to  Youth 
I  coud  almost  wish  I  had  never  written  that  illfated  pamphlet — 
tho'  it  outsells  anything  I  have  lately  written."55 

Two  of  Weems's  pieces  written  primarily  for  the  South  Caro- 
lina market  circulated  to  a  limited  extent  in  North  Carolina.  In 
1808,  one  hundred  and  fifty  copies  of  his  little  pamphlet  on 
Francis  Marion,  the  genesis  of  his  The  Life  of  Francis  Marion 
(1810) ,  were  sent  to  Gales's  bookstore  in  Raleigh.56  Several  years 
later,  the  Parson's  account  of  an  occurrence  in  the  religious  life 
of  contemporary  South  Carolina  was  advertised  regularly  for 
nearly  six  months  in  a  New  Bern  newspaper : 

Just  Received  and  for  Sale 

at  S.  Hall's  Book  Store 

Price  25  cents 

The  Devil  Done  Over;  or  the  Grand  Revival  in  Old  Edgefield 
in  1809,  wherein  seven  hundred  souls  were  added  to  the  Baptist 
church  in  nine  Months. — Taken  chiefly  from  the  Minutes  of  the 
Rev'd  Samuel  Marsh,  Robert  Marsh,  John  Landrom  and  Samuel 

53  The  copy  of  this  pamphlet  owned  by  the  Duke  University  Library  is  inscribed  thus: 
"Powell  McRae.  Presented  by  author,  Jany.  1st  1823."  Powell  was  Duncan  MacRae's  oldest 
son. 

The  companion  piece  to  the  O'Neale  affair  was  the  case  of  "The  Accomplished  Dr. 
Theodore  Wilson,  (Delaware)  who  for  Seducing  Mrs.  Nancy  Wiley,  Had  His  Brains  Blown 
out  by  her   Husband." 

54  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,   Va.,   September  8,   1812,   Skeel,    Weems,   III,   80. 

55  Weems  to  Carey,  Dumfries,  Va.,  September  29,  1812,  Skeel,   Weems,  III,  82. 

56  Weems  to  Carey,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  September  29,  1808,  Skeel,   Weems,  II,   382. 


22  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Cartledge,  who  were  the  Honoured  Instruments  of  the  Glorious 
Work. 

By  M.  L.  Weems,  Formerly  Rector  of  General  Washington's 
Parish.57 

In  addition  to  writing  and  selling  books,  Weems  at  times  pub- 
lished them.  His  most  enduring  venture  in  the  publishing  line 
was  the  Rev.  Hugh  Blair's  Sermons  . . . ,  "Reprinted  for  the  Rev. 
M.  L.  Weems,"  by  Samuel  and  John  Adams  in  Baltimore,  1793. 
Weems's  edition  of  Blair  was  offered  for  sale  in  Wilmington  in 
1803.58  The  Parson  attested  to  its  popularity  in  the  South  when 
he  wrote  Wayne :  "I  beg  you  to  send  no  more  Blair's  to  any  place 
North  of  North  Carolina."59  One  hundred  copies  of  this  edition 
of  the  Scottish  divine  were  sent  to  Edenton  early  in  1812  along 
with  "a  cargo  of  valuable  books"  consigned  by  Carey.  Weems 
was  responsible  for  yet  another  religious  book,  Sermons  on  Im- 
portant Subject  by  the  Late  Reverend  and  Pious  Samuel 
Davies  .  .  .  ,  "Printed  for  Mason  L.  Weems,"  in  Baltimore  in 
1816.  Weems's  edition  was  doubtless  the  result  of  an  observation 
he  once  made  to  Carey  regarding  the  sermons  of  "the  Pulpit 
Henry  of  Virginia" :  "This  is  a  book  in  great  demand  in  all  these 
S.  States."60 

It  was  quite  possible  that  at  one  time  Weems  was  toying  with 
the  idea  of  publishing  the  work  of  a  North  Carolinian,  General 
William  R.  Davie's  "Notes  on  the  Revolution."  The  copy  of  this 
manuscript  in  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Society  in  Chapel 
Hill  has  this  note,  dated  January  7,  1810,  attached : 

If  Genl  Davie  will  please  to  have  transcribed  in  a  round  legible 
hand  the  f ollowg  valuable  documents,  and  forward  them  to  me  to 
care  of  Doct.  Dalco,  Charleston,  he  will  confer  a  very  great  favor 
on  his  much  oblig 

M.  L.  Weems 
NB    The  sooner  the  better;  at  any  rate  by  the  15th  Feb  1810. 

Or  perhaps  the  Parson  intended  enlivening  the  Notes  in  the 


57  Carolina  Federal  Republican,  January  4,  1812,  et  seq.  Mrs.  Skeel  maintains  that  this 
series  of  advertisements  is  the  sole  trace  of  this  pamphlet.  Skeel,  Weems,  I,  232. 

68  Wilmington  Gazette,  June  9,  1803.  Blair's  Lectures  on  Rhetorick  and  Belles  Lettres 
(1777)  was  advertised  more  often  in  the  state  newspapers  of  the  period  than  were  the 
sermons. 

159  Weems  to  Wayne,  Columbia,  S.  C,  August  9,  1805,  Skeel,  Weems,  I,  262. 

60  Weems  to  Carey,  n.  p.,  n.  d.,  received  July  26,  1811,  Skeel,  Weems,  I,  283. 

Note  the  publisher  Carey's  exasperation  with  Weems:  "For  Heaven's  sake  do  not 
encourage  every  man  who  has  written  a  Book  no  matter  whether  good  or  bad  to  apply  to  us. 
You  worry  us  to  Death.  We  have  full  as  much  on  our  hands  as  we  can  manage."  Carey  to 
Weems,  Philadelphia,  1821,  Skeel,  Weems,  III,  310. 


A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina        23 

same  fashion  that  he  did  General  Peter  Horry's  account  of 
Francis  Marion. 

Because  of  his  manifold  activities  Parson  Weems  had  an  in- 
estimable influence  upon  the  cultural  life  of  North  Carolina  in 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  His  bookselling  was 
perhaps  the  most  telling  feature.  In  this  respect  his  zeal  was 
unbounded ;  even  his  preaching  was  subordinate  to  it.  As  Bishop 
Meade  observed  somewhat  sourly :  "He  preached  in  every  pulpit 
to  which  he  could  gain  access,  and  where  he  could  recommend 
his  books."61  His  enthusiasm  must  have  lured  many  a  laggard 
to  literacy  and  his  wit  persuaded  many  a  purchaser.  His  appeal 
was  to  all  classes — from  those  to  whom  he  sold^the  expensive 
calfskin-bound  Marshall's  Washington  to  the  half-educated  rank 
and  file  at  whom  he  aimed  his  own  sketch  of  Washington.  This 
gifted  vagabond  with  his  fiddle  and  ready  tongue  was  a  familiar 
figure  to  North  Carolinians  of  the  era,  "an  object  of  amusement 
to  many,  and  of  profit  to  Mr.  Carey"62  as  well  as  of  benefit  to  the 
state  as  a  whole. 


61  Bishop  [William]  Meade,  Old  Churches,  Ministers  and  Families  of  Virginia  (Philadel- 
phia, 1900),  II,  233.  Evidently  the  Parson  was  a  match  for  the  Bishop;  see  Meade's  own 
account:  "I  once  .  .  .  found  Mr.  Weems  with  a  bookcaseful  [of  books]  for  sale,  in  the 
portico  of  the  tavern.  On  looking  at  them  I  saw  Paine's  'Age  of  Reason,'  and,  taking  it 
into  my  hand,  turned  to  him,  and  asked  if  it  were  possible  that  he  could  sell  such  a  book. 
He  immediately  took  out  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff's  answer,  and  said,  'Behold  the  antidote. 
The  bane  and  antidote  are  both  before  you,'  "  Meade,  Old  Churches,  II,  235. 

62  Meade,  Old  Churches,  II,  233. 


HENRY  McCULLOH :  PROGENITOR  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT 

By  James  High 

The  Stamp  Act  of  1765  was  the  starting  point  of  the  ten-year 
period  that  culminated  in  the  American  Revolution.  The  man 
who  drafted  the  law,  a  forgotten  clerk  in  a  great  office,  believed 
that  it  could  have  worked  had  his  recommendations  been  fol- 
lowed. The  British  ministers  of  state  have  had  to  bear  the  blame 
for  losing  the  American  colonies.  Henry  McCulloh  has  never 
been  given  any  credit  for  his  advice  and  foreknowledge  of  the 
crisis  precipitated  by  the  Stamp  Act.  That  act  caused  George 
Grenville's  ministry  to  fall.  It  was  the  first  time  an  American 
issue  had  retired  an  English  government.1 

Henry  McCulloh  gave  the  idea  of  an  American  stamp  duty  its 
first  written  form,  which  he  handed,  unsolicited,  to  the  Earl  of 
Bute,  first  minister  in  1761.2  It  was  examined  and  endorsed  by 
Bute,  Newcastle,  Pelham,  Halifax,  and  Grenville  and  was  finally 
accepted  by  the  latter  as  the  basis  for  his  infamous  revenue 
measure  of  1765.3  McCulloh  produced  the  idea  in  1761  and  was 


1  Technically,  Grenville  fell  on  the  Regency  Bill,  but  Rockingham  formed  the  next 
ministry  with  Pitt  in  order  to  repeal  the  Stamp  Act.  George  Grenville  (1712-1770),  British 
politician,  famous  for  prosecuting  Wilkes  and  instituting  the  Stamp  Act.  He  is  often 
identified  with  the  "King's  Friends."  One  of  his  sons,  George  Nugent  Temple  Grenville, 
first  Marquis  of  Buckingham  (1753-1813),  cousin  of  William  Pitt,  opposed  Lord  North. 
Another  son,  William  Wyndham  Grenville,  first  Baron  Grenville  (1759-1834),  became  Pitt's 
foreign  secretary  and  formed  the  "Ministry  of  All  the  Talents"  in  1806,  when  the  slave 
trade  was  abolished.  One  may  search  almost  in  vain  for  the  most  trifling  mention  of 
American  affairs  in  the  published  papers  of  George  Grenville,  and  his  official  and  secret 
correspondence  while  he  headed  the  British  ministry  is  preoccupied  with  European  affairs 
to  the  complete  exclusion  of  the  colonies.  He  hardly  thought  of  America,  and  when  he  did, 
it  was  as  an  appanage  of  the  mercantile  system  of  England.  See  Stowe  Manuscripts  (Henry 
E.  Huntington  Library  and  Art  Gallery,  San  Marino,  California),  6,  for  information  con- 
cerning the  assistance  Grenville  gave  the  Earl  of  Bute  in  getting  rid  of  William  Pitt  in  1761. 
Lady  Hester  Pitt  was  made  a  baroness,  and  her  husband  was  granted  an  annuity  of  £3,000, 
to  give  up  the  ministry  and  make  peace.  Stowe  Manuscripts  III,  1-2.  Stowe  Manuscripts,  7, 
cover  the  period  of  Grenville's  administration,  including  his  retirement  from  office  without 
any  mention   of  America. 

2  Miscellaneous  Representations  relative  to  Our  Concerns  in  America  submitted  in  1761  to 
the  Karl  of  Bute,  by  Henry  M'Culloh,  .  .  .  edited  by  William  A.  Shaw  (London,  n.  d.,  1905), 
12.  John  Stuart,  third  Earl  of  Bute  (1713-1792),  was  a  Scottish  noble  often  elected  as 
representative  peer  to  sit  in  the  English  Parliament.  He  was  the  first  Scottish  nobleman 
to  head  a  British  ministry.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu,  thus 
becoming  very  wealthy.  He  was  very  friendly  with  the  young  George  III  and  his  widowed 
mother,  especially  the  latter.  He  helped  the  princess  instill  into  the  young  prince  the  ideas 
of  Bolingbroke  on  the  nature  cf  the  duties  of  a  prince.  He  was  also  on  intimate  terms  with 
another  Scottish  peer  who  had  experienced  trouble  with  Americans,  John  Campbell,  fourth 
Earl  of  Loudoun.  Loudoun  Papers  (Henry  E.  Huntington  Library  and  Art  Gallery),  9441- 
9458.  In  1769  he  considered  himself  ignorant  of  English  affairs  and  went  to  Lisbon  for  his 
health.  Bute  to  Loudoun,  August  19,  1769,  LO  9443.  Bute  voted  in  1766,  against  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  as  he  said,  "entirely  from  the  private  conviction  ...  of  its  very  bad  and 
dangerous  consequences  both  to  this  country  and  our  colonys."  Caldwell  Papers,  Maitland 
Club  (1854),  II,  pt.  ii,  82.  See  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,  9th  Report,  Appendix 
iii,   22. 

8  Edmund  S.  Morgan,  "Postponement  of  the  Stamp  Act.,  William  and  Mary  Quarterly, 
VII  (July,  1950),  353-392,  discusses  the  delay  in  putting  through  the  act,  partly  to  allow 
American   discussion   and   partly   because  of   indifference. 

[24] 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       25 

hired  to  write  the  law  in  1764.  Had  more  attention  been  paid  to 
McCulloh's  provisions,  and  had  items  "Exceptionable,"  as  he  put 
it,  to  the  colonists  not  been  included,  American  resistance  to  the 
Stamp  Act  would  possibly  have  been  less.  It  would,  at  least,  have 
been  on  different  grounds.4  McCulloh  had  been  in  the  Plantation 
Office  and  the  Colonial  Office,  had  served  as  a  crown  officer  in 
North  and  South  Carolina,  and  had  been  in  the  naval  expedition 
along  with  the  Massachusetts  men  at  the  reduction  of  Louis- 
bourg.  He  was,  therefore,  in  a  position  to  understand  Americans 
as  well  as  anyone  in  the  British  government — better  than  any 
of  the  ministers.  His  law,  altered  in  essential  detail,  was  en- 
acted by  Parliament  in  February,  1765.5  The  changes,  though 
seemingly  slight,  put  a  workable  plan  into  a  "dress  of  Horror" 
for  Americans.6  They  reacted  against  it  immediately  and 
violently.7 

It  is  facile  to  say  that  George  Grenville  should  have  "known 
better."  It  is  equally  easy  to  say  the  same  of  such  a  man  as 
William  Knox,  one  of  the  principal  advisers  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  on  colonial  affairs.  Knox  wrote  many  books  on  America 
and  its  administration,  but  he  had  spent  little  time  in  the 
colonies,  and  he  could  only  think  of  the  colonists  as  Englishmen 


4  Sir  Francis  Bernard  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  November  10,  1764,  Huntington  Manuscripts 
(Henry  E.  Huntington  Library  and  Art  Gallery),  2586.  Bernard  was  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts during  the  Stamp  Act  controversy.  He  had  never  been  firm  in  his  belief  that 
Parliament  should  impose  taxes  on  the  colonies.  Typical  of  his  attitude  was  his  letter  to 
Halifax,  in  which  he  said  that  ".  .  .  the  Trade  of  America  is  really  the  Trade  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  opening  and  encouraging  it  is  the  most  Effectual  way  for  Great  Britain  to 
draw  Money  from  America."  See  Select  Letters  on  the  Trade  and  Government  of  America 
by  Governor  Bernard    (London,   1774). 

Daniel  Dulany,  Considerations  on  the  Propriety  of  Imposing  Taxes  in  the  British  Colonies, 
for  the  Purpose  of  Raising  a  Revenue  by  Act  of  Parliament  (Annapolis,  1765),  gave  classic 
form  to  the  American  resistance  to  Parliamentary  control  based  on  resistance  to  the 
particular  act.  Without  the  Stamp  Act,  it  would  have  had  to  take  another  form. 

B  George  III,  c.  12,  the  Stamp  Act. 

6  "General  Thoughts  endeavouring  to  demonstrate  that  the  Legislature  here,  in  all  Cases 
df  a  Public  and  General  Concern,  have  a  Right  to  Tax  the  British  Colonies;  But  that  with 
respect  to  the  late  America  Stamp  Duty  Bill,  there  are  several  Clauses  inserted  therein 
which  are  very  Exceptionable,  and  have,  as  humbly  Conceived,  passed  upon  wrong  Informa- 
tion. Most  Humbly  Submitted  to  the  Consideration  of  the  Honourable  Thomas  Townshend 
By  Henry  McCulloh  [1765]."  Huntington  Manuscripts,  Townshend  Collection  (Henry  E. 
Huntington  Library  and  Art  Gallery,  San  Marino,  California),  1480,  cited  hereafter  as 
"General   Thoughts.    .    .   ." 

7  See  Lawrence  Henry  Gipson,  Jared  Ingersoll:  A  Study  of  American  Loyalism  in  Relation 
to  British  Colonial  Government  (New  Haven,  1920),  for  a  description  of  how  the  act  was 
received  in  America.  Stella  F.  Duff,  "The  Case  Against  the  King:  The  Virginia  Gazettes 
Indict  George  III,"  William  and  Mary  Quarterly,  VI  (July,  1949),  shows  the  mounting 
rancor  against  England  that  grew  from  the  Stamp  Act.  Even  the  English  magazines  in 
1765  were  not  unfriendly  to  the  American  point  of  view:  as  an  example,  see  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  XXXV  (October,  1765),  473:  "The  Stamp  Act  has  produced  a  spirit  of  opposition, 
in  that  remote  part  of  the  world,  that  was  not  perhaps  foreseen  by  the  advisers  of  that 
measure.  The  news  of  the  late  change  in  the  ministry  was  received  in  America  with  bonfires, 
ringing  of  bells,  and  every  public  demonstration  of  joy."  Effigies  of  Grenville  were  burned 
in  all  the  colonies. 


26  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

abroad.8  Many  Englishmen  missed  the  significance  of  the  colonial 
use  of  "foreigner"  to  include  them.9  Looking  back,  the  mistakes 
are  evident,  but  in  1765,  only  a  man  with  real  interest  and 
experience  in  America  could  see  the  colonists'  point  of  view 
and  yet  perceive  Parliamentary  sovereignty  as  the  supreme 
force  in  the  empire.10 

Who  was  this  man  who  advised  and  influenced  ministers, 
but  could  not  convince  them?  He  suggested  the  idea  of  the 
Stamp  Act.11  He  worked  out  the  plan  of  taxation  in  detail.12 
He  wrote  the  first  draft  of  the  law.13  He  then  pointed  out  the 
reasons  for  its  potential  failure  as  it  finally  passed  Parliament.14 
He  discerned  that  Englishmen  who  were  chiefly  interested  in 
colonial  trade  would  oppose  such  a  measure,  but  that  Englishmen 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  who  found  their  main  interest  in 
land  and  the  unification  of  the  empire,  would  agree  to  the 
principal,  and  yet  oppose  the  terms  of  the  specific  act.  McCulloh, 
furthermore,  devised  a  currency  scheme,  without  which  no 
American  revenue  law  would  work.15  Who  was  Henry  McCulloh, 
and  why  has  he  been  forgotten? 

Why  he  has  been  forgotten  is  simple.  He  was  only  a  clerk  in  a 
great  office.  He  soon  drifted  into  that  limbo  of  vague  eighteenth 
century  names,  without  birth  or  death  dates — without  recog- 
nition. 


8  William  Knox  (1732-1810),  permanent  employee  of  the  Board  of  Trade  as  an  expert 
on  American  affairs  wrote  several  books  on  American  politics  and  administration,  such 
as  The  Controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies  Reviewed  (London,  Dublin, 
Boston,  1769).  He  thought  that  the  Americans  wanted  to  remove  all  imperial  restrictions: 
"When  they  shall  have  carried  these  several  points,  one  after  another,  they  will  probably 
be  content,  whatever  the  people  of  England  may  be." 

9  William  Knox,  Controversy  ....  108-109  (London  edition),  gives  Benjamin  Franklin's 
opinion  that  British  interference  in  the  French  and  Indian  war  was  not  needed.  The 
Americans  drove  out  the  French  without  "foreign"  help.  Gentlemen's  Magazine,  XXXV 
(April,  1765),  189ff.,  reviews  a  book,  Objections  to  the  Taxation  of  the  American  Colonies 
&c.  considered,  which  held  that  the  Americans  were  treated  ".  .  .  as  aliens  and  slaves," 
by  foreign  rulers.  Gentleman's  Magazine,  XXXV  (October,  1765),  473.  London  Magazine 
(January,  1766),  31,  32.  Cf.  Dora  Mae  Clark,  British  Opinion  and  the  American  Revolution 
(New  Haven,  1930),  34.  On  the  basis  of  one  of  Henry  McCulloh's  tracts,  A  Miscellaneous 
Essay  concerning  the  Course  pursued  by  Great  Britain  in  the  Affairs  of  her  Colonies  (London, 
1755),  this  author  has  lumped  him  and  William  Knox  and  Thomas  Whately  into  one 
category:  they  should  have  "known  better"  than  attempt  the  Stamp  Act. 

10  The  classic  American  point  of  view  on  the  history  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  expressed 
early  by  George  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States  of  America,  III  (New  York,  1888), 
149JJ.,  that  right  in  the  form  of  American  sovereignty  was  bound  to  triumph.  More  useful 
interpretations  are  now  available,  such  as  Gipson,  Jared  Ingersoll,  and  Morgan,  "Postpone- 
ment of  the  Stamp  Act." 

11  Miscellaneous  Representations  relative  to  Our  Concerns  in  America  Submitted  in  1761 
to  the  Earl  of  Bute,  by  Henry  M'Culloh.  .  .  ,  edited  by  William  A.  Shaw  (London,  n.  d.),  12, 
hereafter  cited  as  McCulloh,  Miscellaneous  Representations. 

12  British  Museum,  Hardwicke  Papers,  Additional  Manuscripts,  35910:137.  "Minutes  and 
observations  taken  in  conference  with  Mr.  McCulloh  upon  considering  of  his  scheme  for 
an  American  Stamp  law,"  October  12,  1763,  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts, 
36226:357. 

13  McCulloh,   "General  Thoughts.  .   .  ,"  13. 

14  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts.  .  .  ,"  passim. 

15  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts.  .  .  ,*'  passim.  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts, 
32874:308. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       27 

McCulloh's  career  has  been  obscured  by  time  and  the  glitter 
of  great  names.  In  English  records  he  first  appears  as  a  minor 
official  in  the  Plantation  Office  in  1733.16  The  next  notice  of  his 
existence  was  in  1738,  when  he  presented  two  memorials  to 
the  Treasury  Board  concerning  the  improvement  of  quitrent 
collection  in  the  Carolinas.  He  attempted  to  expose  an  alleged 
land  fraud  in  the  newly  made  crown  colonies.17  The  next  year 
he  was  made  "Inspector  for  improving  quit  rents  in  North  and 
South  Carolina."18  Apparently  he  failed  to  collect  enough  to  pay 
his  own  salary,  because  the  North  Carolina  Assembly  refused 
his  petition  for  back  pay  in  1741.19  He  styled  himself  at  that 
time,  "Commissioner  for  supervising,  inspecting,  and  controlling 
His  Majesty's  revenues  and  grants  of  lands  in  the  province  of 
North  Carolina."20  His  name  next  appears  in  1744,  when  the 
Treasury  Board  in  England  refused  to  appropriate  his  still 
unpaid  arrears  out  of  the  "4%  P  cent  duty"  on  the  West  Indian 
trade.21 

In  financial  desperation,  McCulloh  returned  to  England  in 
1745,  to  seek  a  commission  in  the  navy.  In  his  request  to  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  for  letters  of  recommendation  to  Governor 
William  Shirley  of  Massachusetts,  he  wrote:  "I  rely  wholly 
upon  your  friendship  for  my  support,"  and  expressed  intention 
to  board  the  "Foulston  man-of-war"  for  Virginia,  and  so  to 
Cape  Breton.22  He  remained  in  the  garrison  of  Fort  Louisbourg 
until  it  was  returned  to  France  by  treaty  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.23 

If  McCulloh's  life  in  England  was  quite  prosaic,  his  American 
activities  were  spectacular.  He  entered  colonial  records  with  a 
grand  flourish  in  1737,  as  Henry  McCulloh  of  Chiswick  Parish, 
Middlesex,  England,  grantee  of  1,200,000  acres  of  land  in  North 
Carolina.24  The  terms  of  this  princely  grant  required  him  to 


!6  Public  Record  Office,  Treasury  Board  Papers,  CCXCVIII,  Number  38. 

17  Public  Record  Office,  Colonial  Office  5,  Plantations  General,  Number  30  (old  style  cita- 
tion, before  the  program  of  Project  A  was  started). 

M  Treasury  Minute  of  Appointment,  January  2,  1738/39  (O.  S.);  Royal  Warrant  issued 
May  16,  1739  (O.  S.),  King's  Warrant  Book:  Treasury,  XXXIII,  281-282,  hereafter  referred 
to  as  King's  Warrant  Book:  Treasury. 

19  His  instructions  appear  in  King's  Warrant  Book:  Treasury,  XXXIII,  282-291.  Conflict 
with  North  Carolina  first  appears  in  Calendar  of  Treasury  Books  and  Papers  .  .  .  preserved 
in  the  Public  Record  Office,  edited  by  William  A.  Shaw   (London,  1905-         ),  IV,  503. 

20  Calendar  of  Treasury  Books  and  Papers,  IV,   (introduction)   viii. 

21  Calendar  of  Treasury  Books  and  Papers,  V,  674. 

^McCulloh  to  Andrew  Stone  [1745],  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts,  32709, 
Newcastle  Papers,  119. 

23  McCulloh  to  Newcastle,  February  13,  1753,  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts, 
32731:177. 

24  The  Colonial  Records  of  North  Carolina,  edited  by  William  L.  Saunders  ( 10  vols. 
Raleigh,  1886-1890),  VI,  533,  hereafter  cited  as  Colonial  Records. 


28  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

settle  on  it  "6,000  Protestants"  within  ten  years.25  The  scheme 
he  had  to  "improve  his  Majesty's  quit  rents  was  to  sub-grant 
his  land  in  great  seignories,  collecting  annually  four  shillings 
for  each  one  hundred  acres.  The  promoter  was  to  keep  half  of 
the  proceeds  for  his  trouble.26  The  plan  was  a  failure,  and  within 
three  years  McCulloh  was  in  sharp  conflict  with  the  colonial 
Assembly  over  the  question  of  local  sovereignty  versus  Parlia- 
mentary supremacy.  They  would  neither  pay  his  royal  salary, 
nor  would  they  admit  that  the  king  had  any  right  to  grant  away 
great  tracts  of  their  colony.27  This  land  speculator  and  servant 
of  the  crown  was  learning  the  mettle  of  the  Americans,  and 
why  they  spoke  of  Englishmen  as  "foreigners." 

By  1745,  McCulloh  had  almost  despaired  of  turning  his  land 
speculation  to  much  account,  but  he  still  held  his  claims  in  North 
Carolina,  now  in  conjunction  with  a  group  of  Dublin  entre- 
preneurs including  Arthur  Dobbs.28  Dobbs  later  became  royal 
governor  of  the  colony,  and  by  1761,  had  succeeded  in  wresting 
from  his  former  friend  the  whole  vast  acreage.29  McCulloh, 
however,  acquired  a  smaller  tract  on  the  Cape  Fear  River  in 
1745.  It  was  only  71,160  acres:  a  pocketful  as  compared  to  the 
fabulous  grant  of  1737.  During  his  absence  from  North  Carolina 
(for  now  he  spoke  of  it  as  his  home),  he  delegated  a  relative, 
Alexander  McCulloh,  to  sell  outright  this  land.30  By  that  time 
he  had  less  personal  interest  in  the  king's  revenues. 

It  is  not  apparent  that  he  made  any  profit  from  this  venture 
either,  because  in  1753  he  petitioned  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  for 
relief.31  He  had  been  out  of  a  job  for  five  years,  since  the  term- 
ination of  his  service  at  Louisbourg. 


25  Colonial  Records,  V,  xxxii,   769.   Grant  was   made   May   19,   1737. 

26  Colonial  Records,  V,  770-771.  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  directed  that  the  subdivisions 
be  not  less  than  12,000  acres  each.  At  least  three  such  grants  were  made  to  Arthur  Dobbs, 
Murry  Crymble,  and  James  Huey. 

27  Colonial  Records,   V,   xxxii,   104;   VI,   533. 

28  Colonial  Records,  V,  xxxii,  104;  VI,  533. 

29  Colonial  Records,  VI,  560.  Herbert  L.  Osgood,  The  American  Colonies  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century  (4  vols.  New  York,  1924),  VI,  201,  204,  says  that  McCulloh,  with  his  influence 
in  the  Board  of  Trade,  obtained  the  position  of  governor  of  North  Carolina  for  Dobbs. 

30  Colonial  Records,  VI,  574.  This  grant  was  tied  up  with  Governor  Johnston's  quarrel 
with  the  Assembly  over  the  right  to  issue  land  patents.  The  Assembly  held  that  they  had 
the  sole  jurisdiction  over  the  lands  of  the  former  proprietors  of  the  colony.  The  dispute 
was  ended  only  by  the  American  Revolution. 

31  McCulloh  to  Newcastle,  June  22,  1753,  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts,  32732:86. 
Thomas  Pelham-Holles  (1693-1768)  was  made  Viscount  Haughton  and  Earl  of  Clare  and 
Suffolk  upon  the  accession  of  George  I  and  Duke  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  two  years  later 
in  1715.  He  and  his  brother,  Henry  Pelham,  figured  in  English  politics  until  1768.  One  or 
the  other  headed  or  was  prominent  in  every  ministry  after  1717  until  the  end  of  the  Seven 
Years'  War. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       29 

For  the  next  four  years  McCulloh  besieged  the  duke  for  a 
position.  He  wanted  especially  the  royal  secretaryship  of  North 
Carolina.32  With  that  job  he  could  collect  a  salary  from  the 
crown,  and  still  be  in  a  position  to  exploit  his  land  grant  which 
had  been  extended  for  ten  more  years  in  1748.33  He  kept  track 
of  the  health  of  the  incumbent  secretary,  and  informed  New- 
castle of  developments:  ".  .  .  there  is  a  further  account  of 
Mr.  Rice's  death,  who  was  given  over  by  the  physicians,  when 
the  last  ship  came  thence,  .  .  .  with  the  gout  in  his  bowels  and 
stomack."34  Secretary  Rice  failed  the  new  aspirant  and  lived 
until  1756.35 

In  1753  McCulloh,  in  hard  financial  straits,  had  to  beg  ".  .  . 
Mr.  Pelham  that  he  will  pleased  to  grant  me  a  small  sum  of 
money  for  a  present  relief  untill  I  succeed,  which  is  the  only 
means  of  hope  I  now  have  left  to  preserve  my  little  family  and 
self  from  utter  ruin."36  Failing  to  get  the  position  in  North 
Carolina,  he  applied  for  one  in  the  Naval  Office  of  the  Lower 
District  of  the  James  River  in  Virginia;  and  subsequently  for 
his  old  clerkship  at  the  Board  of  Trade.  He  reported  to  his 
patron  that  the  Earl  of  Halifax  had  rebuked  him  for  his  im- 
portunity, and  wrote  ".  .  .  that  I  kept  running  teasing  your 
Grace  so  .  .  .  and  that  I  asked  everything,  and  that  he  supposed 
I  wanted  twenty  places,  and  that  I  was  one  of  those  sort  of 
people  that  could  never  be  contented."37 

Finally,  in  1756,  his  name  appears  as  Secretary  and  Clerk 
of  the  Crown  of  North  Carolina.  He  retained  the  position  until 
1761,  when  he  was  reinstated  in  the  Plantation  Office.38  At  the 
same  time  he  finally  lost  all  claim  to  his  great  grant  of  land  in 
America;  but  an  entry  in  colonial  records  shows  Henry  Eustare 
McCulloh,  son  of  "Henry  McCulloh,  late  of  Soracty  in  North 
Carolina,"  attempting  to  exploit  475,000  acres  in  "Lord  Gran- 
ville's tract."39 


32  McCulloh  to  Newcastle,  April  6,  1753,  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts,  32731:338. 

33  Petition  of  Henry  McCulloh,  May  16,  1739,  Colonial  Records,  V,  488,  628-629. 

34  McCulloh     to     Newcastle,     March     26,     1753,     British     Museum,     Additional     Manuscripts, 
32731:410. 

30  Court  and  City  Register,  1756.  Thomas  Falkner  appears  as  secretary  in   1761. 

36  McCulloh  to  Newcastle,  April  6,  1753,  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts,   32732:86. 

37  McCulloh     to     Newcastle,     April     6,     1753,     British     Museum,     Additional     Manuscripts, 
32731:338. 

38  Henry   McCulloh,    Miscellaneous   Representations    .    .    .    ,    introduction. 

39  Board  of  Trade  to  Dobbs,  May  6,  1761,  Colonial  Records,  VI,  559-561,  indicates  that  they 
intended  to  direct  Dobbs  to  seize  all  of  the  land  not  actually  settled.  Colonial  Records,  V,  621. 


30  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

This  was  the  man,  then,  whom  one  person  has  called  ".  .  . 
responsible  for  the  financial  proposal  which  provoked  the 
American  War  of  Independence."40  By  a  little  further  examina- 
tion it  may  be  seen  that  his  American  experience  had  taught 
him  that  there  were  certain  points  upon  which  the  colonists 
would  not  compromise.  His  interest,  sympathy,  and  intelligence 
prompted  him  to  translate  this  experience  into  imperial  policy 
when  he  had  the  chance.  He  almost  succeeded. 

Just  before  the  Stamp  Act  was  finally  drafted  in  1764,  the 
Treasury  Board  recorded  "Minutes  and  observations  taken  in 
conference  with  Mr.  M'Culloh."41  This  included  a  ".  .  .  state 
of  the  several  articles  proposed  by  Mr.  M'Culloh  to  be  stamped, 
and  the  duties  thereon;  likewise  a  state  of  all  the  different 
articles  which  are  now  stamped  in  Great  Britain,  in  order  to 
fix  upon  the  articles  which  are  to  be  inserted  in  the  law  intended 
for  imposing  Stamp  duties  in  America  and  the  West  Indies."42 
The  manuscript  carries  the  following  endorsement  on  the  back 
of  the  last  sheet:  "10th  October  1763,  was  presented  to  Mr. 
Green vill,  who  approved  it."  Sometime  during  the  following  year 
the  measure  was  expanded  to  include  the  "duties  intended  by 
the  Treasury,"  and  McCulloh's  scheme  to  stabilize  colonial 
currency  was  eliminated.43  He  was  sure  that  this  would  "defeat 
the  whole  of  what  is  proposed."44 

Henry  McCulloh,  co-author  of  the  Stamp  Act,  knew  in  advance 
that  it  was  foredoomed,  because,  as  he  wrote,  ".  .  .  there  are 
several  clauses  inserted  therein  which  are  very  Exceptionable, 


40  Henry  McCulloh,  Miscellaneous  Representations  .  .  .  ,  introduction. 

41  Minutes  and  Observations  taken  in  conference  with  Mr.  McCulloh  .  .  .  ,  British 
Museum,   Additional  Manuscripts,   30226:357. 

42  British  Museum,  Additional  Manuscripts,  35910:137.  Edmund  S.  Morgan,  "Postponement 
of  the  Stamp  Act,"  353#.,  points  out  that  Grenville  was  not  decided  on  the  matter  of  a 
stamp  duty  in  America  until  1764,  and  then  he  allowed  himself  to  be  persuaded  to  substitute 
the  Sugar  Act.  He  is  supposed  to  have  deferred  action  on  an  internal  tax  until  the  Americans 
had  been  given  a  chance  to  perfect  a  plan  of  their  own  choosing.  The  manuscript,  including 
"duties  intended  by  the  Treasury,"  and  endorsed  by  Grenville  on  October  10,  1763,  tends  to 
undermine  this  point  of  view.  It  is  further  weakened  by  the  fact  that  such  men  as  Benjamin 
Franklin,  Jared  Ingersoll,  Charles  Garth,  and  the  rest  of  the  colonial  agents  found  no 
fault  with  the  Stamp  Act  until  after  the  Stamp  Act  Congress  held  in  New  York  in  October, 
1765.  See  Verner  W.  Crane,  Benjamin  Franklin's  Letters  to  the  Press,  1758  to  1775  (Chapel 
Hill,  1950),  35-75  (on  repeal,  25,  54-57).  See  also  Jared  Ingersoll,  Ingersoll  Stamp  Act 
Correspondence    (n.  p.,  1776),  26. 

43  Benjamin  Franklin's  land  bank  scheme  for  supporting  a  colonial  currency  was  turned 
down  at  the  same  time.  Parliament  was  dominated  by  men  interested  in  trade,  and  steeped 
in  the  beliefs  of  mercantilism.  It  was  very  difficult  for  them  to  envisage  America  as  anything 
but  an  appanage  of  British  trade.  They  failed  generally  to  perceive  the  sovereign  aspirations 
of  the  colonists.  The  fact  was  that  the  mercantile  system  was  toppling  of  its  own  cumbersome 
weight.  The  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  Secretary  of  State,  wrote  to  Governor  Horatio  Sharpe 
of  Maryland,  that  trade  was  being  ".  .  .  diverted  from  its  natural  course,"  which  was  from 
colony  to  mother  country.  He  was  bewildered,  and  he  probably  represented  the  majority  of 
his  contemporaries.  Hillsborough  to  Sharpe,  October  10,  1763,  Maryland  Historical  Society 
Manuscripts. 

44  Henry  McCulloh,  Miscellaneous  Revresentations  .  .  .  ,  8. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       31 

and  have  .  .  .  passed  upon  wrong  Information."45  He  even 
proposed  that  ".  .  .  the  Ladies  in  America"  had  emulated  the 
plan  of  Lysistrata,  and  "that  they  have  formed  a  kind  of  Con- 
federacy in  all  the  Colonies,  not  to  Permit  any  Officer  concerned 
in  the  Stamp  Duties  to  Visit  them,  or  be  Entertained  at  their 
Houses."46 

The  main  points  of  potential  failure  that  he  brought  up  were : 

(1)  interference  in  the  American  ecclesiastical  arrangements; 

(2)  the  threat  to  local  courts  and  the  constitutional  right  of 
habeas  corpus;  (3)  the  lack  of  any  reform  in  the  circulation  of 
specie;  and  (4)  the  mistaken  concept  of  colonial  unification 
and  the  need  for  mutual  understanding  of  the  sovereignty  of 
Parliament. 

The  manuscript  which  contains  these  "General  Thoughts 
.  .  .  with  respect  to  the  late  America  Stamp  Duty  Bill  .  .  ." 
was  presented  for  the  "Consideration  of  the  Honourable  Thomas 
Townsend  by  Henry  McCulloh"  in  1765.47  If  Townsend  or  anyone 
else  ever  considered  it,  no  knowledge  of  the  matter  has  come 
down  to  the  present.  The  manuscript  has  remained  unnoticed 
for  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  years.  It  is  a  significant  illustra- 
tion of  the  bumbling  administration  of  the  English  colonies  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  it  shows  that  it  was  possible  in 
1765  for  an  Englishman  to  understand  the  quality  of  feeling  in 
America.  He  must,  however,  have  had  a  deep  interest  in  the 
New  World  and  long  experience  among  its  inhabitants. 

McCulloh  touched  the  core  of  the  constitutional  struggle  that 
was  to  develop  between  America  and  the  mother  country  when 
he  wrote  concerning  the  application  of  stamps  to  wills  and 
other  documents  of  "Courts  Exercising  Ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion: There  is  not  in  America  any  Ecclesiastical  Courts,  but 
the  people  Settled  there,  who  are  mostly  Dissenters  or  Sectarys 
of  various  other  Denominations,  look  upon  [the  Stamp  Act] 
.  .  .  as  a  prelude  to  the  Establishment  of  such  Courts;  and 
many   of   them   would   sooner   fforfeit   their   lives   than    pay 


45  McCulloh,   "General  Thoughts   .   .   .    ,"    Huntington   Manuscripts,    1480. 

48  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"  12,  Huntington  Manuscripts,   1480. 

47  Thomas  Townshend  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  related  to  the  more  famous 
and  more  inept  Charles  Townshend  (1725-1767),  who  as  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  tried 
to  enforce  import  duties  on  glass,  tea,  lead,  paint,  etc.,  in  America  with  as  little  success 
as  Grenville  had.  Thomas  Townshend  usually  voted  on  the  Board  of  Trade  as  Soame  Jenyns 
did.  Jenyns  gave  classic  form  to  the  idea  that  no  one  would  willingly  tax  himself  and  that 
therefore  Parliament  had  the  right  to  perform  that  function  for  all  British  subjects. 


32  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Obedience  to  such  Establishment."48  His  experience  as  an  of- 
ficer in  the  British  navy  in  Massachusetts  would  have  taught 
him  that,  when  he  sailed  with  the  force  under  Sir  William 
Pepperell.  He  continued:  "Their  Teachers  are  likewise  very 
Active  in  inflaming  the  Minds  of  the  People,  and  will,  from  their 
dislike  to  the  above  Clause,  give  as  much  Opposition  to  the 
Stamp  Duty  Bill  as  if  there  was  a  Clause  in  it  for  Establishing 
a  Court  of  Inquisition  amongst  them."49  He  pointed  out  that 
the  Church  of  England  had  failed  to  transport  to  America  its 
prerogative  in  the  probate  of  wills  and  issuance  of  marriage 
licenses.  The  bishop  failed  to  migrate  to  the  New  World,  and 
as  McCulloh  knew,  "The  Governors  in  most  of  the  Colonies 
act  as  Ordinary,  in  the  probate  of  Wills:  and  in  .  .  .  Such 
Colonies  where  the  Governors  do  not  Exercise  this  power  it 
is  left  to  the  County  Courts."50 

He  touched  the  canker  of  resentment  again  when  he  com- 
mented on  the  provision  of  the  Stamp  Act  that  "When  any  Suit 
of  prosecution  shall  be  Commenced  in  the  Courts  of  Admiralty 
or  Vice  Admiralty,  the  said  courts  are  .  .  .  Authorized  and 
required  to  proceed,  hear  and  determine  the  same,  at  the  Election 
of  the  Enformer  or  Prosecutor."  This  seemed  to  impinge  on 
the  ancient  right  of  habeas  corpus.  "The  Colonies  insist,  that 
by  the  above  Clause,  they  are  denied  the  Privileges  they  are 
Intitled  to  as  ffree  born  Subjects  of  the  Mother  Country;  That 
they,  as  Colonists,  are  Intitled  to  the  benefits  of  the  Common 
Law  of  England,  and  to  the  Privileges  Granted  by  Magna 
Charta,  and  that  even  admitting  that  our  Parliament  has  a 
Right  to  Tax  them,  It  cannot  be  inferred  from  thence  that  the 
Parliament  has  a  Right  to  Disfranchise  them,  and  bar  them 
from  their  natural  Rights  as  Englishmen:  That  all  power  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  bounded  by  reason,  by  Justice,  and  by  the 
Principles  of  the  Constitution,  And  that  if  it  goes  further,  it  is 
Tyranny.  They  likewise  Alledge,  that  if  an  Act  was  to  pass  here 
which  drew  Lines  of  Distinction  between  those  who  had  Votes 
in  Counties  and  Boroughs,  And  those  who  had  not  any  Votes 
in  Choosing  Members  of  Parliament,  that  the  Bulk  of  the  Sub- 


48  McCulloh,   "General  Thoughts   .   .   .   ,"   Huntington   Manuscripts,   1480. 

10  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"  Huntington  Manuscripts,  1480.  See  Clinton 
Rorisiter,  "The  Life  and  Mind  of  Jonathan  Mayhew,"  William  and  Mary  Quarterly,  VII 
(October,  1950),  which  illustrates  well  how  the  dynamic  religious  movements  in  America  in- 
fluenced  men  to  adopt  revolutionary  principles. 

50  McCulloh,   "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"   Huntington  Manuscripts,   1480. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       33 

jects  in  this  Kingdom  would  hold  themselves  Excused  from 
paying  Obedience  to  so  Arbitrary  and  Unconstitutional  a  Law."51 
McCulloh  could  have  learned  this  when  he  was  special  collector 
of  His  Majesty's  quitrents  in  the  Carolinas  in  1738,  or  when 
he  was  Crown  Secretary  for  North  Carolina  from  1756  to  1761. 

Always  one  of  the  thorniest  problems  that  confronted  the 
colonists  and  their  administrators  was  the  shortage  of  medium 
of  exchange.  During  the  period  of  settlement  imperial  "neglect" 
had  allowed  each  colony  to  develop  its  own  method  of  furnishing 
money  to  meet  the  necessities  of  everyday  life.  The  result  was 
a  mixture  of  the  various  notes  of  colonial  legislatures,  British 
coins,  and  foreign  gold  and  silver.  No  uniformity  existed,  and 
colonial  issues  were  invariably  discounted  heavily  in  favor  of 
English  pounds  sterling.  Colonial  trade  was  often  hampered, 
and  by  1765  inflation  was  becoming  ominous.  If  a  regular  British 
tax  was  to  be  levied,  the  need  for  currency  reform  was  evident, 
at  least  to  McCulloh. 

He  wrote  that  ".  .  .  under  their  present  Circumstances  it  is 
impossible  for  many  of  the  Colonists  to  pay  Obedience  to  the 
said  Law,"  because  of  the  shortage  of  circulating  cash.  He 
deprecated  the  deletion  of  his  provision  against  this  dilemma. 
Concerning  the  curtailment  of  colonial  money  issues,  he  said 
that  ".  .  .  it  will  be  found  that  those  Sudden  Revolutions  in 
Trade,  and  in  Government,  without  Substituting  any  thing  as 
a  Medium  in  the  Course  of  Payments,  will  have  a  fatal  Tendency, 
both  with  respect  to  the  public  Concerns  of  the  Colonies,  and  to 
Trade  and  Commerce.  There  is  nothing  can  be  Offered  on  this 
Subject  but  will  be  attended  with  some  Difficulties,  and  be 
liable  to  Objections,  but  the  necessity  of  the  case  is  such  that 
something  must  be  done  in  Relief  of  the  Colonies,  And  .  .  . 
it  will  be  wise  and  Prudent  to  take  that  course  which  will  be 
found  liable  to  the  fewest  Inconveniences."52 

He  followed  this  preface  with  a  plan  so  simple  and  apparently 
feasible  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand  now  why  it  was  not 
adopted.  His  own  words  are  so  clear  that  they  may  be  quoted 
at  length: 


51  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"  Huntington  Manuscripts,  1480.  He  may  have  been 
referring  here  to  Grenville's  ill-fated  Cider  Bill  of  1764,  which  met  rigorous  opposition 
from  the  groups  in  Durham  not  represented  in  Parliament.  See  Soame  Jenyns's  statement 
on  Parliamentary  sovereignty,  Objections  to  the  Taxation  of  our  American  Colonies  by  the 
Legislature  of  Great  Britain,  briefly  consider' d    (London,   1765). 

52  McCulloh,   "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"  Huntington  Manuscripts,   1480. 


34  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

I  have  Often  Considered  this  Matter,  and  have  had  great 
Opportunities  of  being  Acquainted  with  the  General  Concerns 
of  America ;  and  the  only  Method  which  seems  to  be  practicable 
is,  .  .  .  by  Issuing  Exchequer  Orders  in  the  Payment  of  the 
Army,  and  all  other  contingent  Charges  in  America,  which  will 
Obtain  a  Circulation  by  receiving  the  said  Orders  in  payment 
of  Customs,  Stamp  Duties,  Quit  Rents  &ca.  .  .  ,  [or]  else  there 
should  be  a  New  Coinage  for  America,  to  be  Transmitted  there 
for  payment  of  the  Troops,  and  other  Contingent  Charges ;  And 
as  by  the  6th  of  Queen  Anne  ff  oreign  Silver  is  to  pass  in  America 
at  the  rate  of  6s  8d  p  Ounce,  in  the  new  Coinage  for  America 
there  should  be  an  Alloy  of  14th  Given  to  each  Ounce  of  Silver, 
but  I  would  not  be  Understood  to  pass  it  as  Sterling,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  Real  Value. 

If  this  Proposal  is  Approved  of,  the  Stamp  Duty  and  other 
Revenues  arising  in  America  will  at  different  Periods  of  time, 
be  Sufficient  to  Raise  four  or  ffive  Millions  Sterling  .  .  .  and 
by  this  means  America  will  be  Supplied  with  Silver  Specie  so 
as  to  Answer  all  payments,  both  of  a  Public  and  of  a  Private 
Nature. 

The  only  Objection  that  I  have  heard  mentioned  is,  that  if 
the  Colonies  are  not  at  Liberty  to  Issue  any  further  Bills  of 
Currency,  and  their  Silver  as  Coined  upon  the  Credit  of  the 
above  Fund,  it  will  not  remain  in  America,  But  be  Shipped  home, 
which  I  conceive  to  be  a  mistake,  for  if  the  Money  is  really 
Circulated,  so  much  as  is  needed  for  the  Course  of  Business  there 
will  remain. 

McCulloh  did  not  try  to  deny  Gresham's  Law,  but  he  main- 
tained that  a  proper  circulation  of  money  would  tend  to  offset 
its  effects:53 

The  Principal  reason  why  the  Money  Shipped  from  thence  in 
the  late  War,  for  the  payment  of  the  Troops  in  America,  speedily 
returned  again,  was  Owing  to  the  Money  not  being  Circulated 
in  Payment  of  the  Troops,  as  the  Subaltern  Officers  and  Soldiers 
were  paid  in  Provincial  Bills  of  Currency  and  consequently  the 
Commanding  Officers  and  merchants  found  their  Account  in 
returning  it  home.  Provincial  Bills  of  Currency  are  like  Pha- 
roah's  Lean  Kine:  while  they  remain,  Silver  Specie  will  always 
be  exported  as  Merchandize,  but  when  a  Stop  is  put  to  the  Cir- 
culation of  Bills  of  Currency,  Silver  Specie  will  become  the 
proper  Medium,  or  Course  of  payment  in  all  the  Intercourses  of 
Trade.  But  even  admitting  that  a  great  part  of  the  Silver  re- 
turned to  England,  there  will  be  a  Constant  and  fresh  Supply  of 
Money  in  the  payment  of  the  Army  &ca,  and  it  will  be  for  the 
Service  of  this  Kingdom  to  have  frequent  Coinages  of  Silver, 

53  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  (1519  ?-1579),  Elizabethan  philosopher  who  gave  his  name  to  the 
principle  that  ".  .  .  of  two  currencies  .  .  .  the  lesser  will  drive  out  the  better  which 
will  be  hoarded  or  exported."  This  became  a  tenet  of  mercantilism. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       35 

upon  the  credit  of  an  American  ffund,  which  will  Strengthen 
the  hand  of  the  Administration  in  Enabling  them  to  Settle  and 
Improve  our  new  Acquisitions  in  America.54 

It  was  estimated  that  £80,000  could  be  collected  annually  under 
optimum  operation  of  the  new  law.  McCulloh  thought  that  by 
eliminating  the  obnoxious  portions  and  instituting  a  new  cur- 
rency system,  the  total  revenue  would  be  about  £4,000  less,  but 
that  the  act  would  be  a  total  failure  otherwise.  It  is  easy  to  look 
back  and  see  the  mistakes  that  other  people  have  made,  but  Henry 
McCulloh  discerned  the  weak  points  of  the  Whigs'  Stamp  Act 
long  before  it  became  law.  His  analysis  came  closer  to  the  truth 
than  even  those  of  Daniel  Dulany  and  James  Otis  in  America.55 
He  agreed  with  the  official  attitude  of  the  Board  of  Trade  insofar 
as  admitting  that  no  one  would  willingly  tax  himself,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  was  able  to  devise  a  measure  that  he  thought  would 
collect  a  reasonable  proportion  of  the  taxes  expected  by  the 
crown.  He  was  more  realistic  than  either  Parliament  or  the 
ministry. 

He  had  written  a  tract  ten  years  earlier  that  leaves  no  doubt 
of  his  belief  in  the  sovereignty  of  Parliament.56  He  thought  that 
legislative  action  should  be  translated  into  systematic  adminis- 
tration of  the  whole  empire,  ".  .  .  by  making  one  Part  of  Use  in 
the  Improvement  of  another."57  He  wrote  in  1761  that  "as  the 


^McCulloh,    "General   Thoughts    .   .   .   ,"    Huntington   Manuscripts,    1480. 

55  James  Otis  (1725-1783)  was  already  famous  in  Massachusetts  for  his  resistance  to  the 
writs  of  assistance  issued  by  the  General  Court  of  his  colony.  He  advanced  the  theory  of 
the  natural  rights  of  Americans — this  phrase  might  include  anything  that  its  user  desired. 
Otis  exploited  the  New  Englanders'  interest  in  trade  and  consequent  dislike  of  restrictions 
on  it,  to  appeal  to  their  sense  of  independence.  See  Charles  Mullett,  Some  Political  Writings 
of  James  Otis  (1929).  Daniel  Dulany  (1722-1797)  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Dulany,  the  elder 
(1685-1753),  Irish  immigrant  to  Maryland  who  became  very  wealthy  and  influential  in  that 
colony.  The  younger  Dulany  gave  written,  logical  form  to  Stamp  Act  resistance  in  his 
Considerations  .  .  .  ,  already  cited.  It  was  written  however,  in  October,  1765,  and  is  a 
legalistic,  opportunistic  utilization  of  spurious  logic  and  unusual  arithmetic.  Dulany  was  a 
Loyalist  in  1776.  Cf.  Charles  Albro  Barker,  The  Background  of  the  Revolution  in  Maryland 
(New  Haven,  1940),  165,  305-306. 

5o  Henry  McCulloh,  A  Miscellaneous  Essay  concerning  the  Course  pursued  by  Great  Britain 
in  the  Affairs  of  her  Colonies  (London,  1755).  See  Clark,  British  Opinion  and  the  American 
Revolution,  34w.  It  is  interesting  to  note  here  that  in  1755  no  one  seriously  questioned 
British  sovereignty,  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic,  except  the  proprietary  family  of  Maryland. 
When  Governor  Sharpe  suggested  a  stamp  duty  for  America  to  finance  the  French  and 
Indian  War  (Sharpe  to  Cecilius  Calvert,  September  15,  1754,  Archives  of  Maryland,  "Cor- 
respondence of  Governor  Sharpe,  1753-1757,"  edited  by  William  Hand  Browne,  Baltimore, 
1888,  VI,  99,  ".  .  .  it  should  be  thought  proper  to  bring  in  a  Bill  .  .  .  the  next  Session 
of  Parliament  .  .  .  for  raising  a  Fund  in  the  several  Provinces  .  .  .  By  a  Stamp  Duty 
.  .  .  on  Deeds  &  Writings.  .  .  ."),  he  was  dissuaded  from  his  idea  by  Secretary  Calvert, 
uncle  of  the  young  Lord  Baltimore.  By  1765  Calvert  regretted  the  passage  of  the  Stamp 
Act  and  blamed  it  on  the  "whimsies"  of  the  Maryland  Assembly,  which  "has  brought  on 
them  the  Lex  Parlimenti  .  .  ."  Calvert  to  Sharpe,  February  26,  1765,  Calvert  Papers 
(Maryland  Historical  Society),  573.  Sharpe  thought  in  1765  that  "Parliament  indeed  seems 
to  be  considered  throughout  North  America  as  calculated  to  distress  the  Colonies  without 
doing  the  least  Service  to  the  Mother  Country."  Sharpe  to  Calvert,  February  26,  1765, 
Maryland  Archives,  XIV,  196. 

57  McCulloh,    Miscellaneous   Representations   .   .    .    ,    6. 


36  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

want  of  System  was  the  main  Inlett  to  the  present  War,  if  we  do 
not  regulate,  or  establish  a  proper  Course  or  Rule  of  Proceeding, 
all  the  Advantages  we  fondly  hope  for,  will  vanish  into  Air  .  .  . 
As  all  lesser  Systems  must  depend  upon  the  System  observed  in 
the  Mother  Country,  nothing  proposed  can  have  it's  due  Effect, 
unless  the  Offices  abroad  are  so  regulated  as  to  transmit  every 
Matter  of  Importance  ...  in  America,  to  the  Plantation  Office: 
And  then,  the  Success  of  the  whole  depends  upon  the  R*  Honbl 
the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantations  making  a  due  and  full  Report 
to  the  Crown  of  all  Matters  that  come  under  their  Inspection. 
For,  if  the  Channels  of  Information  can  be  obstructed,  or  varied 
by  different  Modes  of  Application,  it  will  leave  Room  for  Con- 
nections which  may  defeat  the  whole  of  what  is  proposed."  He 
then  suggested  a  stamp  duty  to  pay  the  cost,  and  a  system  of 
strict  accounting.58 

In  1765,  he  reiterated  his  belief  in  the  supremacy  of  Parlia- 
ment, saying  that  the  colonies  ".  .  .  are  under  the  protection  of 
the  Legislature  here,  and  in  some  Degree  in  the  Character  of 
Wards,  .  .  .  And  altho'  many  persons  in  the  Colonies  have  often 
insisted,  that  as  they  have  no  proper  Representative  here,  they 
ought  not  to  be  Taxed  by  our  Legislature,  Yet  this  Plea  may  with 
equal  Reason  be  Urged  by  many  Men  of  Fortune  in  this  Kingdom, 
whose  fortunes  are  in  Trade  or  in  the  Public  Funds;  and  the 
same  Plea  may  be  Urged  by  nine  tenths  of  the  Common  People. 
But  as  both  there  and  here  such  persons  Enjoy  the  Privilege  of 
Subjects,  and  the  Protection  of  the  Laws,  they  are  indispensably 
bound  to  Conform  their  Conduct  to  the  Rules  prescribed  to  them 
by  the  Laws  and  Consitutions  of  this  Kingdom."59  McCulloh  still 
felt  that  a  "Stamp  Duty  on  Vellum  parchment  and  Paper  in 
North  America"60  was  the  only  "Tax  or  fund  from  which  any 
Considerable  Duty  [could]  arise  in  relief  of  the  Mother  Country," 
but  it  must  be  a  wise  measure  based  on  deliberation,  considera- 
tion, and  experience.61 

Concluding  his  appeal  for  revision  of  the  Stamp  Act,  McCulloh 
wrote:  "I  was  desired  to  assist  ...  in  drawing  the  Stamp  Duty 
Bill,  but  I  left  out  the  above,  and  several  other  Clauses  that  are 
now  incerted  therein,  However  that  Affair  was  taken  out  of  my 


58  McCulloh,  Miscellaneous  Representations  .   .  .   ,   13. 

59  McCulloh,  "General  Thoughts  .  .  .  ,"   Huntington   Manuscripts,   1480. 

60  McCulloh,  Miscellaneous  Representations  .   .   .   ,   12. 

61  McCulloh,   "General   Thoughts   .   .   .   ,"   Huntington   Manuscripts,    1480. 


Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act       37 

Hands,  and  the  Bill  was  afterwards  drawn  upon  the  plan  of 
Business  in  use  here  which  is  very  different  from  what  ought  to 
have  been  observed  in  America."  He  thought  that  the  law  would 
".  .  .  be  another  great  means  of  introducing  much  Disturbance 
and  Confusion  in  the  .  .  .  Colonies."  To  allow  the  colonies  to  unite 
themselves  without  Parliamentary  authority,  or  enforce  an  ob- 
noxious tax  measure,  he  knew  was  inept.  He  said  that  ".  .  .  there 
could  not  be  a  more  effectual  Method  taken  to  render  the  said 
Colonies  in  Process  of  time,  independent  of  their  Mother  Coun- 
try."62 He  was  right. 

Such  an  attempt  as  McCulloh's  in  1765  was  more  to  the  point 
of  preserving  the  British  empire  than  all  the  extra-Parliamentary 
bugling  about  American  "rights"  by  William  Pitt,  General  Con- 
way, and  John  Wilkes.  The  American  colonists  were  not  looking 
for  "friends"  in  England.  They  looked  for  sound  leadership  from 
the  mother  country,  and  they  were  disappointed.  Franklin,  in 
1769,  could  say  that  the  Americans  had  not  "asked"  for  help  in 
expelling  the  French,  that  they  had  actually  done  it  all  alone  ;63 
but  that  was  in  1769,  after  American  affairs  had  been  caught  in 
"the  Grand  Wheel  of  Government."64  In  1765,  he  and  Thomas 
Pownall  had  a  plan  of  their  own  to  finance  the  Stamp  Act  excise. 
They  could  see  no  reason  why  it  would  not  work.65 

It  is  useless  to  study  historical  "might  have  beens"  unless  they 
help  to  clarify  understanding  of  our  actual  history.  The  Stamp 
Act  has  been  accepted  as  the  starting  point  of  the  American 
Revolution,  and  a  sense  of  inevitability  has  grown  up  about  that 
war.  No  war  is  inevitable,  and  a  statement  of  Revolutionary 
origin  in  1765  is  too  glib.  There  were  persons  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  who  knew  what  was  at  stake:  the  dissolution  of 
mercantilism  and  the  growth  of  colonial  sovereignty.  This  little 
study  does  not  change  the  interpretation  of  the  Revolution,  but 
it  is  hoped  that  it  may  help  to  bring  about  a  brighter  clarification 


62  McCulloh,    "General   Thoughts    .    .    .    ,"    Huntington    Manuscripts,    1480. 

63  William  Knox,  Controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies  Reviewed  (London, 
1769),  109;  "Dr.  Franklin  thus  delivers  himself  before  the  House  of  Commons  .  .  .  Having 
been  asked,  'Is  it  not  necessary  to  send  troops  to  America  to  defend  the  Americans  against 
the  Indians?'  The  Doctor  replies,  'No;  by  no  means:  it  never  was  necessary.  They  defended 
themselves  when  they  were  but  an  handful,  and  the  Indians  much  more  numerous.  They 
continually  gained  ground,  and  have  driven  the  Indians  over  the  mountains  without  any 
troops  sent  to  their  assistance  from  this  country.'  " 

6*  Cecilius  Calvert  to  Horatio  Sharpe,  March  1,  1763,  Archives  of  Maryland,  XXXI,   530. 

65  Verner  W.  Crane,  Benjamin  Franklin's  Letters  to  the  Press,  35-75.  Thomas  Pownall 
(1722-1805)  became  more  alive  to  the  need  for  Anglo-American  cooperation  as  the  years 
went  by  and  in  1803  suggested  an  Atlantic  pact.  John  A.  Schutz,  "Thomas  Pownall's 
Proposed  Atlantic  Federation,"  The  Hispanic  American  Review,  XXVI    (May,   1946),  263-268. 


38  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

of  the  problem  of  colonial  administration.  It  may  help  to  show 
that  American  independence  rested  on  something  more  than 
American  efforts  and  inspiration.  The  destiny  of  the  American 
nation  was  not  God-given,  nor  is  it  self -perpetuating. 


i 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF  SOCIETY  IN  RURAL  SOUTH 

CAROLINA  IN  1850 

By  Joseph  Davis  Applewhite 

Nearly  ninety  years  ago  a  book  was  written  which  attempted 
to  bring  before  the  reading  public,  especially  in  the  North,  a 
picture  of  the  complexity  of  southern  society.  Too  many  Ameri- 
cans, said  the  author,  were  "totally  unconscious  that  her  [the 
South's]  citizens  were  ever  divided  into  other  than  three  classes 
— Cavaliers,  Poor  Whites,  and  Slaves."1  Before  the  effect  of  D.  R. 
Hundley's  work  could  be  felt  the  Civil  War  destroyed  a  great 
part  of  the  social  structure  of  this  section.  Succeeding  genera- 
tions of  students  and  writers  have  continued  to  accept  the  old 
three-class  picture  of  the  South,  either  from  romantic  sentiment 
or  for  dialectic  advantage.2 

Thus,  almost  a  century  after  the  publication  of  Hundley's 
Social  Relations  in  Our  Southern  States,  it  has  seemed  wise  to 
consider  in  detail  some  phases  of  life  in  the  rural  sections  of 
South  Carolina.  This  state  has  long  been  considered  a  model  of 
southern  life,  and  the  conditions  which  held  true  for  its  farm 
population  should  obtain  for  similar  rural  peoples  in  most  of 
the  lower  South. 

In  analyzing  this  group  the  unpublished  census  for  1850  was 
of  invaluable  assistance.  It  furnished  a  wide  variety  of  facts 
about  the  production  of  the  farm  population  and  gave  some  in- 
formation about  the  individuals  as  well.  While  there  were  certain 
gaps  in  the  material,  as  the  superintendent  of  the  census  ad- 
mitted, the  general  picture  was  correct,  and  "anyone  who  takes 
the  trouble  to  compare  results  on  certain  points,  will  perceive 
how  strikingly  and  truly  the  several  enumerations  harmonize," 
he  concluded.3 


1  Daniel  R.  Hundley,  Social  Relations  in  Our  Southern  States    (New  York,  1860),   10. 

2  Recent  studies  which  recognize  the  importance  of  the  large  class  of  small-  and  middle- 
sized  farmers  are:  Frank  L.  and  Harriet  C.  Owsley,  "The  Economic  Basis  of  Society  in  the 
Late  Antebellum  South,"  Journal  of  Southern  History,  VI  (1940),  41-54;  Harry  L.  Coles,  Jr., 
"Some  Notes  on  Slaveownership  and  Landownership  in  Louisiana,  1850-1860,"  Journal  of 
Southern  History,  IX  (1943),  381-394;  Blanche  Henry  Clark,  The  Tennessee  Yeomen,  18U0- 
1860  (Vanderbilt  University  Press,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  1942);  Herbert  Weaver,  Mississippi 
Farmers,  1850-1860   (Vanderbilt  University  Press,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  1945). 

3  Statistical  View  of  the  United  States  .  .  .  Being  a  Compendium  of  the  Seventh  Census 
(J.  D.  B.  De  Bow,  Superintendent  of  the  United  States  Census,  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  Public 
Printer,  Washington,  1854),  10. 

[39] 


40  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Since  a  study  of  the  entire  farm  population  of  the  state  would 
have  been  impossible,  it  is  fortunate  that  South  Carolina  can  be 
divided  into  four  distinct  sections.  In  each  of  these  areas  several 
counties  were  found  suitable  for  detailed  consideration  by  refer- 
ence to  the  published  census  for  1850  and  by  soil  studies.  Further 
checking  determined  the  following  counties  as  adequate  samples : 
Georgetown  for  the  tidewater  area,  Richland  in  the  middle 
country  between  the  fall  line  and  the  tidewater,  Fairfield  County 
in  the  piedmont,  and  Anderson  County  in  the  mountain  area. 
While  the  generalizations  made  on  such  a  basis  may  not  be  com- 
pletely correct  in  every  case,  to  paraphrase  De  Bow,  the  results 
are  strikingly  harmonious. 

The  results  of  the  study  can  be  classified  most  easily  under 
three  major  heads:  economic  basis  of  society,  the  general  agri- 
cultural picture,  and  the  social  life  of  the  rural  people.  It  must 
be  noted  that  the  groups  dealt  with  almost  exclusively  are  the 
farm  operators  with  small  acreage.  The  plantation  owners  have 
received  more  than  adequate  treatment  elsewhere,  often  to  the 
extent  of  completely  overshadowing  the  much  larger  class  of 
farmers  in  the  mind  of  the  general  public.  Indeed,  one  of  the  pur- 
poses of  this  study  is  to  readjust  this  picture  to  something  nearer 
proper  perspective. 

That  such  a  readjustment  is  necessary  is  indicated  by  the 
statement  of  W.  T.  Couch  in  Culture  in  the  South  that  "Little  is 
known  about  the  great  majority  of  Southern  white  population 
in  former  times."4  The  truth  of  this  remark  is  amply  demon- 
strated by  a  survey  of  most  of  the  material  written  about  the 
South.  As  late  as  1900,  one  scholar  said  that  "the  non-slaveholders 
were  a  poor  class  of  people,  a  sort  of  proletariat."5  The  unpub- 
lished census  records  throw  much  light  on  the  composition  of  the 
farm  population  and  help  to  revise  the  careless  estimate  of  earlier 
times. 

In  considering  the  population,  it  is  important  to  learn  of  the 
place  of  origin  of  individuals.  Almost  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the 
rural  population  was  born  within  the  state  or  in  the  near-by 
states  of  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia.6  This  created 


*W.  T.  Couch   (ed.),  Culture  in  the  South   (Chapel  Hill,  1934),  ix. 

5  William  A.  Schaper,  "Sectionalism  and  Representation  in  South  Carolina."  Reports 
American  Historical,  I    (Washington,  1900),  254. 

"Seventh  Census  of  the  United  States,  Schedule  I,  Free  Inhabitants  (unpublished),  for 
Anderson,  Fairfield,  Georgetown,  and  Richland  counties. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  41 

an  unusually  homogeneous  group  with  a  common  language,  cus- 
toms, and  a  generally  Protestant  religious  heritage.  The  small 
percentage  of  the  farm  population  born  outside  the  continental 
United  States  was  largely  from  English-speaking  countries, 
chiefly  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  was  thus  easily  assimilated. 
While  this  picture  is  valid  only  for  the  sample  counties,  excluding 
the  cosmopolitan  population  of  the  seaport  towns,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  it  was  rather  generally  true  for  the  whole  rural 
area. 

This  homogeneity  was  further  accentuated  in  1850  by  two  addi- 
tional factors.  Almost  all  of  the  farmers  followed  the  same  pat- 
tern of  agriculture.  Outside  the  narrow  belt  of  rice  land,  the 
farmers  of  the  whole  state  were  interested  in  the  growing  of 
short  staple  cotton,  corn,  wheat,  potatoes,  and  livestock,  par- 
ticularly hogs.  The  soil  and  climate  of  the  state  made  these 
crops  possible  and  usually  profitable.  Differences  in  the  sorts  of 
crops  raised  were  more  apt  to  exist  on  farms  of  different  sizes 
rather  than  between  farms  of  the  same  size  in  different  counties.7 

The  second  factor  making  for  unity  was  the  large  body  of 
Negroes  in  society.  The  most  natural  question  to  arise  in  con- 
sidering any  study  of  the  rural  population  of  the  Old  South  is  the 
ratio  of  slaveholders  to  nonslaveholders.  The  information  supplied 
by  the  census  records,  when  organized  and  properly  correlated, 
provides  an  adequate  basis  for  generalizing  on  this  matter.  The 
general  population  of  the  state  in  1850  was  668,507,  divided  be- 
tween 274,563  whites,  384,984  Negroes,  and  8,960  freemen.8  The 
sample  counties,  each  of  them  of  about  twenty  thousand  total 
population,  showed  the  following  percentage  of  slave  population : 
Anderson  County  thirty-five  per  cent,  Fairfield  County  sixty-six 
per  cent,  Richland  County  eighty-one  per  cent,  and  Georgetown 
County  eighty-nine  per  cent.9 

The  picture  becomes  somewhat  more  interesting  with  the  addi- 
tion of  the  percentage  of  the  white  population  in  each  of  the 
above  counties  which  was  slaveholding.  Anderson  County,  in  the 


7  Seventh  Census  of  the  United  States  (1850),  Schedule  IV,  Production  of  Farms  (un- 
published). 

8  A  chart  showing  the  comparative  populations,  production,  and  acres  of  improved  and 
unimproved  land  has  been  compiled  from  the  published  census  of  1850  and  1860  for  all  of 
the  counties  of  the  state  by  Mrs.  Harriet  Owsley.  Since  this  has  been  found  more  usable  than 
references  to  the  census  reports,  hereinafter  references  to  these  statistics  will  be  cited  as  the 
Owsley  Chart. 

9  Owsley  Chart. 


42  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

upper  part  of  the  state,  presents  a  more  nearly  balanced  society 
where  only  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  population  was  slave  and 
forty-two  per  cent  of  the  whites  owned  slaves.  This  suggests  a 
relatively  large  number  of  small  slaveholders.  The  two  middle 
counties,  though  lying  next  to  one  another  geographically,  dif- 
fered in  ratio  of  slaveowners  to  those  without  slaves.  Fairfield, 
the  piedmont  area,  showed  a  three-fourth  to  one-fourth  ratio 
in  favor  of  slaveholders,  while  Richland,  largely  below  the  fall 
line,  had  a  two-thirds  to  one-third  majority  of  non-slaveholders. 
Only  about  a  quarter  of  the  white  population  owned  slaves  in 
Georgetown  County  which  was  nearly  ninety  per  cent  Negro  in 
composition,  thus  making  it  more  nearly  like  the  generally  held 
picture  of  a  three-class  society.10 

By  considering  the  statistical  information  available  from  the 
census  figures  it  becomes  apparent  that  in  1850  the  pattern  of 
slaveholding  in  the  whole  state,  as  represented  by  the  sample 
counties,  was  one  of  many  small  farmers  owning  less  than  ten 
slaves  in  all  and  generally  with  fewer  than  five  slaves  able  to 
work  in  the  fields.  The  counties  differed  widely  from  one  another 
in  this  matter.  In  Anderson  County  more  than  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  all  slaveholders  owned  fewer  than  ten  slaves;  Fairfield, 
forty-five  per  cent,  Richland,  thirty-five  per  cent;  and  George- 
town twenty-eight  per  cent.11 

Only  in  this  latter  county  was  there  a  definite  trend  toward 
the  concentration  of  many  slaves  in  a  few  hands.  Here  twenty-two 
men,  making  up  about  twenty  per  cent  of  the  slaveholding 
population,  each  owned  between  one  hundred  and  two  hundred 
slaves.12  Obviously  the  type  of  land  and  the  growing  of  rice  and 
sea-island  cotton,  both  of  which  required  considerable  investment 
of  money  and  labor,  prevented  the  small  farmer  from  expanding 
in  this  tidewater  area.  Even  in  Georgetown  County  a  few  non- 
slaveholders  owned  a  great  deal  of  improved  land  and  produced 
good  crops  of  rice;  some  thirteen  of  such  men  were  listed  as 
growing  more  than  half  a  million  bushels  of  rice  each  in  1850.13 

As  any  farmer  in  the  state  would  have  agreed,  however,  the 
mere  number  of  slaves  owned  was  scarcely  an  accurate  guide  to 


10  Seventh  Census,  Schedules  I  and  II   (unpublished),  Anderson,  Fairfield,  Georgetown,  and 
Richland  counties. 

11  Seventh  Census,  Schedule  II   (unpublished). 

12  Seventh  Census,   Schedule  II    (unpublished),  Georgetown  County. 

18  Seventh  Census,  Schedule  II,  IV   (unpublished),  Georgetown  County. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  43 

the  economic  status  of  the  master.  The  figures  for  total  slave- 
holding  are  deceptive  since  they  suggest  a  large  working  force. 
The  average  proportion  of  working  slaves  in  the  total  number, 
even  in  the  sugar  and  rice  areas  where  the  slaves  were  chosen 
with  care,  was  generally  one-half.  In  the  old  plantations  where 
the  slaves  were  largely  inherited,  the  workers  would  be  no  more 
than  a  third  of  the  total  number.14 

Many  of  the  non-slaveholding  farmers  preferred  to  hire  slaves 
rather  than  to  bother  with  the  responsibility  of  owning  them. 
Many  a  man  is  listed  in  the  census  as  owning  many  acres  of  im- 
proved land  and  producing  larger  crops  than  could  be  explained 
by  his  own  efforts.  This  situation  leads  one  to  suspect  that  such 
a  farmer  hired  either  slaves  or  white  laborers  or  that  he  was  a 
prodigious  worker.  Such  facts  are  difficult  to  ascertain  exactly  and 
generalizations  about  possibilities  are  dangerous. 

The  practice  of  hiring  slaves  is  amply  substantiated  by  a 
variety  of  records,  particularly  wills  and  inventories.  One  of  the 
more  illuminating  scraps  of  such  information  comes  from  a  note 
written  by  a  widow  with  three  small  children.  "I  am  living  to 
myself  now  and  I  have  a  little  place  of  my  one  (close  to  a  kins- 
man) .  I  haired  a  little  negro  boy  to  work  my  land  and  help  me."15 

There  is  some  evidence  that  the  class  of  white  laborers  may 
have  been  larger  than  is  ofteu  realized.  A  great  many  males  are 
found  on  the  census  rolls  listed  as  "farm  worker"  or  "laborer." 
Unfortunately  the  average  person  of  this  class  was  neither  a 
letter  writer  nor  a  diarist.  In  a  few  cases  he  might  be  a  newly 
arrived  immigrant,  though  Governor  Paul  Hamilton  was  com- 
plaining as  early  as  1805  that  too  few  white  workers  were  coming 
into  the  state  to  counteract  the  great  increase  in  the  number  of 
Negroes.16 

One  South  Carolinian,  after  having  tried  the  wonders  of  the 
West,  expressed  a  desire  to  return  from  the  wilds  of  Ohio. 

I  am  bound  to  come  to  South  Carolina  as  soon  as  I  can  get  my 
business  fixt.  ...  I  can  do  very  well  in  Ohio  I  can  get  from  ten 
to  twelve  dollars  per  month  for  working  on  a  farm  and  goods  is 
low  in  Ohio.  .  .  . 


14  Frederick  L.  Olmsted,  A  Journey  in  the  Seaboard  Slave  States    (New  York,   1856),   63. 

15  Note  dated  March  7,  1855,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers    (South  Caroliniana  Library,  University 
of  South  Carolina,  Columbia ) . 

18  Quoted  from  the  Charleston  Courier,  December  2,  1805,  in  Theodore  D.  Jervey,  The  Slave 
Trade  (The  State  Company,  Columbia),  54. 


44  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

But  I  have  always  worked  hard  on  a  farm  or  driving  a  team 
and  if  I  can  get  lighter  employment  in  your  state  I'd  bee  pleased 
to  come.  I'd  like  stage  driving  very  well,  I  think.  .  .  ,17 

It  may  be  assumed  from  this  letter  that  a  worker  in  South 
Carolina  would  receive  less  than  one  in  Ohio,  but  not  much  less 
or  the  writer  would  scarcely  have  considered  returning  to  work 
in  the  state. 

An  authority  on  agriculture  in  the  South  concludes  from  a 
study  of  the  published  census  records  that  in  1850  there  was  an 
average  of  one  free  white  laborer  for  every  2.2  farms  in  the 
area.18  This  is  a  factor  overlooked  in  the  general  stereotype  of 
the  Old  South. 

Somewhere  in  the  picture  must  come  the  overseer.  There  seems 
no  reason  to  deny  Hundley's  assertion  that  most  of  the  overseers 
came  from  the  yeoman  class.  They  filled  a  useful  and  important 
function  on  the  larger  plantations  and  were  often  not  drunken 
brutal  drivers  but  men  "of  sterling  worth  and  incorruptable 
integrity' '  who  might  even  display  gentlemanly  instincts  "though 
but  little  polished  in  speech  and  manners."19 

Generally  the  small  farmer  had  little  need  for  an  overseer,  and 
if  his  slaves  grew  numerous  enough  to  require  additional  manage- 
ment he  used  one  of  his  older  sons  or  nephews  for  this  work.  If 
he  did  hire  an  overseer  the  man  was  generally  considered  a 
member  of  the  family  as  far  as  social  status  went,  ate  with  the 
family,  and  "in  many  cases  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  employer 
from  employee."20 

In  addition  to  the  subtle  classification  from  planter  down  to 
white  laborer,  there  existed  a  class  which  has  received  attention 
from  a  variety  of  sources,  the  poor  white.  Literature  of  the 
nineteenth  century  is  full  of  references  to  such  a  class  of  whites, 
depressed  economically,  ignored  socially,  and,  according  to  later 
writers,  weakened  physically  by  fever,  hookworm,  and  pellagra. 
Still,  since  the  enumerators  failed  to  characterize  this  class 
separately  it  is  difficult  to  separate  the  poor  whites  from  the  body 
of  agricultural  workers. 


17  Oliver  Clark  to  Henry  B.  Clark,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers. 

18  Lewis  C.  Gray,  History  of  Agriculture  in  the  South  to  1860    (Washington,   1933),  I,   501. 

19  Hundley,  Social  Relations,  203. 

20  Hundley,  Social  Relations,  85. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  45 

There  exists  no  really  satisfactory  basis  for  deciding  who  was 
a  "poor  white"  and  who  was  merely  a  poor  farmer.  Slaveholding 
is  the  first  point  of  separation,  for  none  of  the  first  group  could 
have  owned  slaves.  But  there  is  a  tremendous  portion  of  the 
farming  class  which  did  not  own  slaves.  Landowning,  which 
would  certainly  be  a  key,  is  not  easily  discovered  since  there  is  no 
direct  statement  in  the  census  of  whether  land  is  owned  or  rented. 
It  is  thus  scarcely  possible  that  the  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the 
non-slaveholding  farmers  without  land  in  Georgetown  County 
were  "poor  whites."21  And  the  thought  of  using  as  a  basis  the 
lack  of  any  farm  implements  and  any  staple  crop  is  negated  by 
the  frequent  examples  of  young  men  beginning  to  farm  with 
tools,  stock,  and  even  land  loaned  by  friends  and  relatives. 

One  clearly  expressed  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  poor  whites 
is  that  they  are  "the  wrecks  left  by  an  unfortunate  industrial 
system."  The  author  further  asserts  that  with  the  disappearance 
of  the  dignity  of  labor  and  the  lack  of  family  connections  to  make 
good  credit  to  buy  slaves,  the  poor  but  honest  white  fell  lower 
in  the  social  scale.  "The  ignorance  and  poverty  alone  were  suf- 
ficient to  crush  the  laboring  white.  .  .  .  add  to  this  the  lack  of  a 
useful  and  respectable  employment,  the  origin  and  perpetuation 
of  the  poor  whites  becomes  plain  enough."  In  the  tidewater  area 
this  situation  forced  these  whites  into  less  desirable  land.22 

Perhaps  a  study  of  the  size  of  the  landholdings  will  give  some 
further  basis  for  better  classification  of  the  rural  peoples.  An 
intensive  comparison  of  both  the  total  landholdings  and  the  total 
improved  acreage  of  the  farmers  living  in  the  sample  counties 
leads  to  interesting  generalizations.  The  comparisons  between 
the  slaveholding  farmers  and  their  non-slaveholding  neighbors 
adds  further  detail  to  the  picture. 

In  considering  the  holdings  of  improved  land  in  the  sample 
counties  several  factors  appear.  First  of  all,  the  differences  be- 
tween these  basic  groups  was  much  greater  for  total  land  held 
than  for  improved  land.  Secondly,  while  in  almost  every  classifi- 
cation of  improved  land  holding  (under  fifty  acres,  fifty  to  one 


21  Seventh  Census,  Schedule  I    (unpublished),  Georgetown   County. 

22  Schaper,  "Sectionalism,"  306.  A  further  note  to  this  effect  is  found  in  the  comment  of 
the  British  traveler,  James  Sterling,  Letters  From  the  Slave  States  (London,  1857),  65-66.  He 
suggests  that  whenever  a  whole  class  of  people  are  grouped  together  as  poor  white,  or  the 
Irish  and  Scotch  cotter,  and  the  English  "Chawbacon,"  their  state  is  the  result  of  some 
abuse  of  land  owning. 


46  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

hundred  acres,  and  the  like)  the  non-slaveholder  was  behind  his 
neighbor  with  Negroes,  the  difference  was  generally  not  great. 
In  other  words,  both  the  slaveholder  and  non-slaveholder  with 
small  acreages  tended  to  have  only  as  much  land  as  the  owner 
could  work  with  his  family  or  with  his  slaves.  And  a  farmer  with 
several  sons  of  working  age  might  produce  more  than  a  neighbor 
with  several  slaves  and  no  sons. 

Farmers  with  less  than  one  hundred  acres  of  improved  land 
make  up  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  non-slaveholders  and  more 
than  one-half  of  the  slaveowners  in  the  sample  counties.23  It  is 
safe  to  generalize  from  a  detailed  study  of  the  census  figures  and 
to  suggest  that  as  a  rule  in  South  Carolina  the  majority  of  the 
non-slaveholding  farmers  worked  less  than  fifty  acres  of  im- 
proved land  while  those  with  slaves  were  apt  to  have  twice  as 
much  land.  The  produce  of  this  increased  acreage  was  often  no 
more  profitable  at  the  end  of  the  year  when  it  became  necessary 
to  deduct  the  increased  expense  of  labor  from  the  total  income. 

There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  in  1843  the  majority  of 
farmers  in  the  state  were  satisfied  with  the  system  of  slavery 
and  were  anxious  to  follow  at  least  a  part  of  the  advice  of  a 
speaker  before  the  Agricultural  Society  who  felt  that  the  first 
duty  of  a  farmer  was  to  clear  himself  of  debt  by  rigid  economy. 
When  this  was  done,  continued  the  speaker,  "I  see  no  surer  way 
to  profit,  than  through  the  improvement  of  their  lands  and  the 
increase  of  their  slaves."24 

While  the  Charleston  area  may  have  some  claim  to  an  aristoc- 
racy based  on  family,  there  is  little  evidence  to  support  the  theory 
that  the  rest  of  the  state  was  very  conscious  of  class  differences. 
Even  in  the  tidewater  sections  of  the  state,  R.  F.  W.  Allston  com- 
mented on  one  wealthy  old  gentleman  in  the  neighborhood:  "He 
was  formerly  the  overseer  (having  begun  as  cattle  drover  just  as 
Foxworth  did  with  me)."25  And  Allston,  certainly  a  member  of 
the  aristocracy  if  one  existed,  related  the  story  of  a  man  who 
began  his  career  as  a  wood  sawyer  with  his  only  slave  in  the  pit 
at  the  other  end  of  the  saw.  When  passers-by  jeered  at  such 
exertions,  the  laborer  answered  defiantly,  "Never  mind,  damn  ye, 


23  Seventh  Census,  Schedule  I   (unpublished). 

2i  Proceedings  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  November  30,  1843  (Columbia,  S.  C, 
1844),  410. 

25  R.  F.  W.  Allston  Family  Papers,  April  24,  1858  (typed  copies,  South  Carolina  Library, 
University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  47 

I  will  own  your  property  yet."  In  1858  he  held  more  than  40,000 
acres.26 

But  mere  ownership  of  land  even  in  vast  quantities  was  not 
enough  to  change  a  farmer  into  a  planter.  The  land  must  be  tilled 
productively  and  with  a  minimum  of  waste.  The  earliest  settlers 
of  the  Carolinas  were  filled  with  the  expectation  that  the  area 
would  soon  produce  all  manner  of  exotic  plants,  especially  citrus 
fruits,  olives,  mulberry  trees  for  silk  culture,  and  fine  grapes  for 
wine.  Some  of  the  more  conservative  farmers  who  had  never 
expected  success  in  silk  plantations  tried  tobacco.  The  staple 
grew  well  in  the  interior  of  the  state,  but  that  section  was  isolated 
from  market  by  poor  roads,  and  getting  the  tobacco  down  to 
Charleston  "was  attended  by  an  expense  of  labor  almost  equal 
to  its  value,  and  a  loss  of  time  equal,  at  least,  to  a  voyage  to 
Europe."27 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  only  really 
successful  crops  for  export  were  rice  and  laboriously  produced 
indigo.  A  few  settlers  in  the  pine  regions  were  able  to  gather 
and  market  naval  stores,  but  as  late  as  1850  this  enterprise  was 
limited  to  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  population.  That  more 
farmers  in  this  area  did  not  undertake  the  business  is  surprising, 
for  in  good  years  the  profits  were  generally  about  $300  per  hand. 
Even  when  the  turpentine  had  to  be  carried  some  distance  to 
market  the  profits  were  more  than  $200  for  each  worker.28 

By  early  nineteenth  century,  however,  a  pattern  for  the  agri- 
culture of  the  state  was  established  which  continued  for  nearly 
a  hundred  years.  Sea-island  cotton  flourished  in  the  narrow  strip 
of  land  adjacent  to  the  ocean.  Once-profitable  indigo  had  disap- 
peared with  the  advent  of  chemical  dyes,  and  rice  plantations 
spread  over  most  of  the  swampy  sections  of  the  low  country. 
The  area  above  the  tidewater  was  increasingly  a  cotton  and  corn 
producing  country. 

In  the  lower  tier  of  counties  in  South  Carolina  for  almost  half 
a  century  the  production  of  long-staple  cotton  seemed  a  more  im- 
portant part  of  the  economy  than  the  amount  raised  would 
justify.  When  properly  handled,  the  average  fibres  were  about 


26  R.  F.  W.  Allston  Family  Papers,  April  24,  1858. 

27  Message  of  Governor  David  Johnson,  November  29,  1843,  Reports  and  Resolutions  of  the 
General  Assembly   of  South   Carolina,    18U7    (Columbia,    South   Carolina,    1847),    159-160. 

28  De  Bow's  Review,  VIII   ( January- June,  1848),  450. 


48  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

two  inches  long  and  commanded  a  fancy  price,  but  the  planting 
and  harvesting  of  the  crop  demanded  excessive  amounts  of  labor 
and  the  profits  from  it  were  little  higher  than  from  the  more 
ordinary  varieties  grown  inland.29 

Rice,  though  very  laborious  to  grow,  was  a  very  marketable 
crop.  The  average  acre  of  well-tilled  rice  land  would  commonly 
produce  from  thirty-five  to  sixty  bushels  of  rice  of  about  forty- 
five  pounds  each.  In  the  rough  state  this  rice  sold  for  about  one 
dollar  a  bushel.30 

The  total  rice  production  for  the  state  in  1850  was  approxi- 
mately 159,930,613  pounds;  that  of  the,  state  of  Georgia,  38,- 
950,691  pounds,  of  which  Chatham  County  produced  almost 
one-half;  and  that  of  Louisiana,  4,425,349  pounds.  With  a  total 
of  46,765,040  pounds,  Georgetown  County  grew  more  rice  than 
the  states  of  Georgia  and  Louisiana  combined.31 

In  the  sample  counties,  with  the  exception  of  Georgetown,  rice 
was  a  very  minor  consideration  as  the  land  was  not  suitable  for 
this  cereal.  Even  in  Georgetown  County  a  majority  of  non- 
slaveholders  grew  no  rice,  although  those  who  did  were  in  the 
upper  bracket  of  producers.  Of  the  slaveholders,  6.66  per  cent, 
and  of  the  non-slaveholders,  4.44  per  cent,  raised  between  250,000 
pounds  and  500,000  pounds  of  rice.32 

Early  settlers  in  the  upcountry  had  secured  the  most  fertile 
spots  along  the  river  bottoms  and  had  begun  to  wear  out  the  soil 
with  intensive  cultivation.  A  great  part  of  the  land  was  devoted 
to  cotton,  a  practice  which  was  meeting  with  increased  disfavor 
from  reformers  of  agriculture.  William  Gregg,  in  attempting  to 
wean  his  fellow  South  Carolinians  away  from  this  devotion  to 
cotton,  added  the  following  judgment: 

Cotton  has  been  to  South  Carolina  what  the  mines  of  Mexico 
were  to  Spain — it  has  produced  us  such  an  abundant  supply  of 
all  the  luxuries  and  elegancies  of  life,  with  so  little  exertion  on 
our  part  that  we  have  become  enervated  .  .  .  and  unprepared  to 
meet  the  state  of  things,  which  sooner  or  later  must  come  about.33 

The  advocates  of  continuing  cotton  culture  could  produce  some 
interesting  justifications  for  its  use,  however.  One  authority  felt 


29  Gray,  Agriculture,  I,  56. 

30  Olmsted,  Seaboard  Slave  States,  385-388. 

31  Owsley  Chart. 

32  Seventh  Census,  1850,   Schedule  IV    (unpublished). 

33  De  Bow's  Review,  VIII  (January- June,  1850),  138. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  49 

that  the  introduction  of  cotton  had  been  a  blessing  to  the  cause 
of  temperance  by  lessening  the  production  of  fruit  for  brandy. 
This  noxious  beverage  had  been  responsible  for  dotting  the  land- 
scape with  distilleries  which  had  demoralized  society  "to  a  fright- 
ful degree."34 

Not  only  did  this  crop  improve  the  morality  of  the  state  but  it 
added  to  the  dignity  of  labor.  "Wives  and  daughters  may  con- 
veniently and  safely  share  with  the  husband  and  father.  While 
he  traces  the  furrow,  they,  protected  by  their  sunbonnets,  eradi- 
cate the  weeds  with  a  light  hoe."35 

In  actual  practice  most  of  the  labor  of  tilling  the  soil  was  ex- 
ceedingly primitive.  A  description  by  Olmsted  of  a  gang  of  slaves 
readying  a  field  for  cotton  is  probably  more  typical  than  the 
"light  hoe."  The  slaves  carried  manure  to  the  field  in  baskets  and 
spread  it  with  their  hands  between  the  rows  of  last  year's  crop, 
while  other  slaves  with  clumsy  hoes  pulled  the  ridges  down  over 
the  manure  to  make  the  new  rows  for  planting.36 

Although  most  of  the  farmers  refused  to  try  out  the  new  plows 
and  skimmers  to  lighten  the  labor  of  cultivation,  they  did  experi- 
ment with  new  varieties  of  seed.  One  farmer  wrote  his  brother 
that  the  "mastodon  cotton  is  considered  a  humbug  &  is  not  half 
so  much  esteemed  in  the  southwest  as  it  is  here."  From  his  own 
experience  he  suggested  that  the  best  farmers  would  use  the  best 
common  seed  "&  don't  have  your  rows  more  than  3  feet  apart  & 
have  the  cotton  very  close  in  the  drill,  say  six  inches"  to  suit  the 
land.37 

Another  enterprising  farmer  in  the  Pendleton  district  made  in 
1848,  working  three  hands  on  twenty-five  acres  of  land,  twenty- 
seven  thousand  pounds  of  seed  cotton  and  provisions  for  family 
and  stock.  The  land  was  all  hilly  and  had  been  purchased  five 
years  previously  at  four  dollars  an  acre.  He  manured  the  land, 
planted  the  seed  previously  wet  and  rolled  in  ashes,  two  bushels 
to  the  acre.  Later  he  thinned  the  stock  to  a  stand  ten  inches  apart 
on  poor  land,  and  twenty  inches  on  the  best  of  his  soil.38 


34  Samuel  Dubose,   "Address  Delivered  at  the  17th  Anniversary  of  the  Black  Oak  Agricul- 
tural Society,"  April  27,  1858. 
^DuBose,  "Address." 

36  Olmsted,  Seaboard  Slave  States,  400. 

37  H.   H.   Townes  to  W   .A.    Townes,   March   29,    1847,   Townes    Papers    (South    Caroliniana 
Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 

38  De  Bow's  Review,  IX    (July-December,  1850),  106. 


50  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  average  small  farmer,  whether  as  careful  or  not  as  the  one 
mentioned  above,  depended  upon  his  cotton  for  most  of  his  yearly 
cash.  Seldom  was  his  production  more  than  a  few  bales,  as  many 
receipts  of  the  period  testify.  One  such  bill  from  a  small  store- 
keeper runs:  "Bought  of  Wm.  Fulmer  10  bales  of  cotton  .  .  . 
$205.25."  From  this  sum  was  subtracted  the  balance  due  for 
purchases  at  the  store  and  seven  dollars  insurance  on  the  cotton.39 
Another  small  farmer  sold  six  bales  of  cotton  averaging  three 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each  for  a  total  of  $141.24.40 

With  such  prices  for  cotton  it  is  little  wonder  that  many  of  the 
farmers  both  large  and  small  were  turning  to  other  staple  crops 
by  1850.  At  least  one  of  the  Anderson  County  planters  wrote 
De  Bow's  Review  that  the  profit  from  a  well  cultivated  farm  in 
his  section  of  the  state  was  only  three  and  one-half  per  cent  on 
the  capital  invested,  and  that  in  the  lower  part  of  the  state  the 
profits  were  under  five  per  cent.41 

Nevertheless,  most  of  the  farmers  and  planters  continued  to 
grow  this  staple,  and  in  spite  of  bad  weather,  boll-worms,  crab 
grass,  and  low  prices,  believed  that  a  successful  crop  would  en- 
able them  to  clear  their  debts  and  perhaps  expand  their  holdings. 

There  was  not,  however,  the  complete  devotion  to  cotton  cul- 
ture present  in  the  state  that  is  generally  assumed.  Perhaps  the 
plea  for  general  diversification  noted  on  all  sides  by  the  middle 
of  the  century,  or  the  realization  of  the  small  returns  from  plant- 
ing cotton,  or  a  combination  of  both  factors  led  many  farmers  of 
the  state  away  from  cotton  entirely.  Whatever  the  reasons,  a 
survey  of  the  sample  counties  indicates  that  a  considerable  per- 
centage of  the  farmers  were  not  planting  any  cotton. 

It  can  be  seen  that  in  Anderson  County  more  than  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  non-slaveholders  raised  less  than  three  bales  of  cotton 
each  and  more  than  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  farmers  with  slaves 
were  in  the  same  category.  Fairfield  County  farmers  with  three 
bales  of  cotton  or  less  each  showed  the  following  percentage: 
thirty-eight  per  cent  of  the  non-slaveholders  and  seventeen  per 
cent  of  the  slaveholders.  Richland  County  had  eighty-five  per 
cent  of  the  non-slaveholders  raising  three  bales  of  cotton  or  less 


39  Receipt  dated  July  12,  1848,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers. 

40  Receipt  dated  March  5,  1849,  Smith  Papers. 

41  Gray,  Agriculture,  II,  707. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina*  i  Si 

each  and  forty-one  per  cent  of  the  slaveholders;  Oeor&etcWn 
County  farmers  raised  practically  no  cotton.42 

A  careful  study  of  the  comparative  production  of  cotton  and 
corn  per  acre  among  farmers  having  the  same  amounts  of  im- 
proved land  indicates  that  the  production  per  acre  was  almost 
identical  for  those  with  slaves  and  without  slaves.  Actually  a 
comparison  of  fifteen  farmers  from  both  classes  taken  at  random 
from  the  sample  counties  shows  that  the  farmers  with  slaves 
grew  less  cotton  and  slightly  more  corn  than  their  non- 
slaveholding  neighbors.43  This  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  former  had  more  hands  and  stock  to  feed. 

This  dependence  upon  corn  for  food  was  universal  in  the  state, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  rice  counties.44  In  the  low 
country  the  prize  yield  of  corn  per  acre  had  gone  to  R.  F.  W.  All- 
ston  for  105  bushels  per  acre.45 

These  figures  do  not  seem  very  important  until  they  are  com- 
pared with  the  generally  accepted  provisions  for  an  average  farm. 
In  the  will  for  an  Anderson  County  farmer,  the  provisions  for  a 
year  for  his  farm  of  165  acres  and  two  slaves  included  only  one 
hundred  bushels  of  corn,  twenty-five  bushels  of  wheat,  five  hun- 
dred pounds  of  pork,  and  two  hundred  pounds  of  "good  cotton 
seed."46 

Wheat,  the  other  major  grain  crop,  is  of  less  importance  in 
the  economy  of  South  Carolina.  In  only  Anderson  and  Fairfield 
counties,  of  the  samples  studied,  was  any  considerable  amount  of 
wheat  grown,  and  much  of  it  was  doubtless  for  sale  to  the  planters 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  state. 

Occasionally  the  farmers  found  it  necessary  to  buy  flour  out- 
side South  Carolina,  as  one  wrote  in  1845 : 

Many  persons  in  our  district  .  .  .  will  feed  their  negroes  on 
flour  &  save  their  little  corn  entirely  for  their  horses.  Tell  Mother 
she  had  best  do  this  &  if  she  is  compelled  to  buy,  to  get  flour 
cheap  from  Tennessee.  Bake  the  flour  into  hard  biscuit  or  light 
bread,  &  way  out  the  rations  to  the  negroes.47 

^Seventh  Census,  1850,  Schedule  IV  (unpublished). 
^Seventh  Census,  1850,  Schedule  IV   (unpublished). 

44  Report  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  1844,  Omniad,  IX,  73. 

45  Pendleton  Farmers'   Society,  Records,   1826-1920,  Minutes,   October  12,   1860    (typed  copy 
in  South  Caroliniana  Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 

48  Anderson   County  Will   Book,   1854-1876,   57    (typed  copy   in    South   Caroliniana   Library, 
University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 

47  H.  H.  Townes  to  wife,  August  16,  1845,  Townes  Papers. 


52  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

T6  continue  further  this  sort  of  study  for  each  of  the  minor 
crops  would  prove  of  little  value.  Almost  every  farmer  in  both 
classes  grew  some  oats,  hay,  peas  and  beans,  and  potatoes,  usually 
sweet  potatoes,  for  the  needs  of  his  family  and  stock. 

To  a  much  greater  extent  than  has  been  known  the  average 
farmer  with  small  acreage  was  self-sufficient.  It  is  true  that  he 
might  buy  meat  or  hay  to  supplement  his  own  production,  but 
this  was  generally  done  only  when  it  was  cheaper  to  buy  than 
to  raise  the  animals.  Late  in  the  autumn  of  1848,  one  farmer 
wrote  that  Kentucky  pork  was  selling  at  eight  cents  a  pound  and 
was  expected  to  be  even  cheaper.  "I  have  bought  two  thousand 
pounds  &  will  make  my  own  raising  supply  the  balance  of  my 
wants."48  Why  should  an  intelligent  farmer  divert  a  part  of  his 
labor  to  a  less  profitable  crop  when  it  better  suited  his  economy 
to  purchase  more  cheaply  a  part  of  his  supplies? 

It  is  possible  that  much  of  the  misconception  about  the  one-crop 
economy  of  the  state  is  derived  from  the  emphasis  which  the 
various  Agricultural  Societies  of  South  Carolina  placed  upon 
diversification.  As  early  as  1784  there  had  been  enough  active 
interest  in  some  sort  of  farmers'  organization  to  bring  together 
members  to  talk  over  their  common  problems,  thus  providing 
a  "useful  capital  from  which  to  draw  benefit."49 

In  spite  of  the  literary  language  used  in  the  reports,  the  forma- 
tion of  county  agricultural  societies  had  been  advantageous  to 
the  state.  There  were  at  least  eleven  such  groups  by  1823.  Some 
of  them  were  little  more  than  dinner  clubs  for  the  wealthier 
planters,  for  one  of  these  was  forced  to  put  a  limit  on  the  number 
of  dishes  and  wine  offered  by  each  host  in  turn  "to  put  the  richer 
and  poorer  contributors  on  the  same  footing."50  And  the  forma- 
tion of  a  state  organization  helped  persuade  the  state  legislature 
to  authorize  a  soil  survey  by  Edmund  Ruffin  in  1839.51 

The  main  emphasis  of  this  society  and  of  all  the  county  organi- 
zations was  the  improvement  of  the  soil  and  the  practicing  of 
better  methods  of  farming.  To  this  end  speeches  filled  the  air, 
competitions  were  encouraged,  and  prizes  were  offered.  One 
speaker  urged  all  farmers  to  join  their  local  societies  whether  or 


48  Note  from  H.  H.  Townes,  November  29,  1848,  Townes  Papers. 

49  Introduction   to   Proceedings    of    the    Agricultural    Convention    of    the    State    Agricultural 
Society  of  South  Carolina  from  1839  to  1845    (Columbia,  S.  C,   1846),   Omniad,  IX. 

m  David  Doar,  A  Sketch  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  St.  James,  Santee,  23. 
D1  Introduction,  Proceedings  of  Agricultural  Convention,  5. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  53 

not  they  felt  able  to  write  and  speak  well.  "For  he  who  under- 
stands a  matter  can  make  it  understood  by  another,"  and  many 
of  the  most  valuable  suggestions  had  come  from  plain  farmers 
unpracticed  at  writing.52 

Governor  George  McDuffie  directed  all  of  his  noted  eloquence  in 
a  speech  before  the  State  Agricultural  Society  stressing  the 
necessity  for  conserving  the  land.  The  lands  of  South  Carolina 
could  not  compete  with  the  fresh  lands  of  the  Southwest.  Even 
in  that  favored  area  the  planters  were  abusing  their  soil  and 
driving  their  slaves  in  an  effort  to  obtain  more  profits,  an  example 
which  this  state  should  note  and  avoid.53 

From  this  study  of  the  small  farmers  in  South  Carolina  it  is 
seen  that  many  of  these  warnings  were  unnecessary.  Perhaps 
the  examples  of  the  larger  planters  who  were  trying  to  make 
money  as  rapidly  as  possible  and  the  constant  reiteration  of  this 
problem  by  speakers  tended  to  give  a  picture  of  the  farmers  of 
the  state  as  devoted  to  cotton  alone.  The  passage  of  time  has 
exaggerated  the  problem  even  more.  No  doubt  there  were  many 
farmers  who  profited  by  Joel  Poinsett's  advice  to  cultivate  only 
as  much  land  as  could  be  properly  manured  and  tended.  It  should 
be  seen,  he  continued,  that  a  farmer  saves  more  labor  and  expense 
in  raising  one  hundred  bushels  of  corn  from  five  acres  than  he 
does  from  ten  acres  with  less  productive  methods.  To  further 
this  idea,  the  farmer  should  learn  the  real  value  of  manure  in- 
stead of  merely  counting  the  initial  cost.54 

Further  evidence  that  many  of  the  farmers  were  willing 
to  try  new  experiments  is  supplied  by  Daniel  Lee,  editor  of  the 
Southern  Cultivator,  himself  a  northerner.  In  discussing  the 
plantations  which  he  had  seen  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina 
he  added  that  nothing  had  impressed  him  so  much  as  the  well- 
constructed  terraces  and  ditches.  "In  this  matter,  the  planters 
of  these  states  have  excelled  all  we  have  witnessed  elsewhere 
in  the  Union,  and  we  have  seen  most  of  it."55 

But  even  skillful  rebuilding  of  the  soil  and  careful  rotation  of 
crops  could  not  solve  all  of  the  problems  of  the  farmer.  One  of 
the  most  serious,  and  at  times  almost  unmanageable,  of  these  was 


52  John  B.  O'Neall,  Proceedings  of  Agricultural  Convention,  215. 

53  George  McDuffie,  Proceedings  of  Agricultural  Convention,  98. 

54  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  Proceedings  of  Agricultural  Convention,  249. 

55  Quoted  in  Gray,  Agriculture,  801. 


54  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  question  of  credit.  Many  farmers,  hoping  to  improve  their 
lot  by  increased  landholdings  or  larger  numbers  of  slaves,  would 
borrow  on  the  land  and  slaves  already  owned.  Just  enough  of 
them  were  able  to  make  sufficient  profits  to  pay  off  their  debts 
and  thus  encourage  those  less  able  to  follow  the  practice.  The 
latter  either  lost  their  land  immediately  or  were  able  to  stave  off 
their  creditors  through  a  good  many  agonizing  years,  always 
hoping  for  better  times  and  higher  profits.  Meanwhile,  in  such 
cases,  the  land  was  seriously  worn  in  the  attempt  to  turn  out  im- 
mediate profits,  and  neither  the  debtor  nor  the  creditor  was 
likely  to  achieve  any  return. 

The  system  of  signing  notes  often  involved  some  friend  who 
had  agreed  to  support  the  note  in  a  moment  of  mistaken 
generosity.  In  times  of  depression  a  great  many  otherwise  thrifty 
farmers  were  severely  strained  to  meet  such  an  obligation.  It  was 
quite  a  common  practice  to  ask  a  friend  to  become  co-signer  on 
a  personal  note  as  casually  as  one  would  ask  the  loan  of  a  horse 
for  the  afternoon.  And  the  request  in  both  cases  was  generally 
granted. 

In  discussing  a  note  for  $380  due  an  Augusta  firm  by  a  country 
merchant,  the  manager  suggested  that  a  twelve-month  note 
would  be  acceptable  "with  the  endorsement  of  Richard  Harris. 
We  have  no  doubt  Mr.  Harris  will  do  this  as  he  seems  to  have 
dealings  with  you."56 

The  most  frequent  form  of  credit  was  that  between  members 
of  a  family.  In  one  illuminating  note  between  brothers,  the  debtor 
was  asking  that  the  addressee  use  his  influence  with  still  another 
brother  to  prevent  his  having  the  farm  sold  for  money  owed  him. 
Since  there  were  older  debts  than  that  owed  brother  George,  any 
cash  received  from  the  forced  sale  would  be  absorbed  by  the 
creditors  having  prior  claim.  The  other  creditors,  however,  were 
willing  to  allow  the  debtor  to  pay  a  little  each  year,  if  George 
would  just  hold  his  temper  in  check  and  wait  for  his  money  as  the 
others  were  doing.57 

Some  of  the  farmers,  despairing  of  ever  paying  their  debts, 
took  the  relatively  simple  way  of  moving  into  another  state. 
Others  moved  to  seek  better  lands  and  higher  profits  from  their 


56  Bill  to  H.  B.  Clark,  May  31,  1858,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers, 
w  W.  Smith  to  E.  P.  Smith,  October  13,  1854,  Smith  Papers. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  55 

labor.  One  man  wrote  back  from  Mississippi  giving  glowing  re- 
ports of  corn  and  waist-high  cotton,  though  he  added  that  chills 
and  fevers  had  determined  him  to  seek  more  healthful  lands  in 
Arkansas  or  Texas.58  Another  wrote  back  to  South  Carolina  that 
the  land  around  Kosciusco,  Mississippi,  was  fine  for  growing 
cotton,  corn,  and  hay.  In  addition,  a  clever  man  could  make  a 
fortune  by  training  dogs  to  run  Negroes  at  twenty-five  dollars  for 
each  runaway  caught.59 

The  general  pattern  of  the  migration  from  east  to  west  by  1850 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  nearly  200,000  Southern  whites  in 
other  states  gave  South  Carolina  as  their  birthplace.  This  is 
brought  to  a  more  personal  level  by  a  badly  spelled  note  from  an 
old  lady. 

My  children  is  all  scatring  of  from  me.  Elithebeth  is  gone  to 
Texes  last  fall  there  went  by  land  Tuck  them  7  weeks  to  git 
there.  .  .  .  Martha  is  gone  to  Alabamer  My  son  Nelson  is  gon  to 
Alabamer  and  are  living  close  together.  .  .  .  My  daughter  Mary 
and  companion  is  living  with  me  this  year.60 

Just  as  this  old  lady  and  her  daughter's  family  were  trying  to 
run  a  farm  despite  all  of  the  disadvantages  of  agriculture  in  this 
state,  so  were  many  thousands  of  small  farmers.  And  their  life 
at  home,  neither  that  of  poor  whites  nor  of  "aristocrats"  with 
traditional  columned  mansion,  deserves  some  attention  at  this 
point,  for  the  yeomen  farmers  are  generally  ignored.  Discounting 
the  simple,  untidy  cabins  which  gave  many  travelers  the  im- 
pression that  all  the  farmers  were  shabby  folk,  the  majority  of 
farm  homes  in  the  state  were  comfortable  and  reasonably  well 
kept.  One  very  clear  description  of  a  small  place  with  forty-five 
acres  of  cotton  comes  from  a  letter  of  this  period: 

I  have  as  good  a  double  log  cabin  as  I  ever  saw.  It  has  a  passage 
covered  of  12  feet  nailed  boards  for  a  roof,  a  good  plank  for 
floors  four  windows  with  good  framed  shutters  with  iron  hinges 
&  hooks  &  what  is  a  great  thing  in  this  country  both  of  my  chim- 
neys have  brick  backs  &  hearths.  ...  I  have  besides  the  Big  House 
two  good  negro  cabins  &  a  good  corn  crib  with  smoke  house  &  the 
negroes  have  3  chicken  pens.®1 

58  G.  T.  Brewton  to  Smith,  June  23,  1848,  Smith  Papers. 

59  Thomas  Priestly  to  Smith,  September  2,  1848,  Smith  Papers. 

60  Mrs.  Mary  Fulmer  to  sister,  March  7,  1855,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers. 

61  S.  A.  Townes,  undated,  Townes  Papers,  1846-1854. 


56  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

This  was  typical  of  the  semi-frontier  life  under  which  many 
of  the  farmers  began.  As  they  prospered,  the  average  farmer  was 
apt  to  cover  the  logs  with  boards  and  add  a  veranda.  In  some 
instances  the  women  of  the  family  were  apt  to  insist  on  columns 
as  a  mark  of  respectability.  The  Calhoun  family  added  this  touch 
to  "Fort  Hill"  long  after  the  original  structure  was  completed.62 

D.  R.  Hundley,  in  a  considerate  vein,  explained  that  while  many 
middle-class  farmers  were  negligent  in  keeping  up  their  homes 
and  outbuildings,  the  average  farmer  was  frequently  "anxious 
to  have  everything  look  neat  and  comfortable."63  And  the  home 
of  the  average  farmer  was  undeniably  pleasant  and  comfortable. 
A  visitor  from  the  low  country  described  the  "old  farm  house" 
located  in  the  upcountry  and  approached  by  an  avenue  of  syca- 
mores. "The  house  is  surrounded  by  shade  trees  of  all  kinds 
which  throw  a  pleasant  coolness  even  in  the  hottest  part  of  the 
day."64 

The  interior  of  these  homes  can  be  rather  accurately  described 
from  the  inventories  and  wills  of  the  period.  The  keen  eye  of  a 
neighbor  appraising  an  estate  was  apt  to  reveal  details  about  the 
condition  of  many  of  the  household  treasures  in  noting  "one  worn 
cherry  bedsted,"  or  "old  walnut  falling  table,  leaf  missing." 

The  household  effects  of  a  free  woman  of  color  were  valued  in 
1855  at  less  than  fifty  dollars.  They  included  three  beds,  one 
chest,  three  chairs,  one  table,  one  candlestick,  a  cupboard,  flax- 
wheel,  and  "sundry  crockery,  jars,  and  potware."65  This  was 
certainly  a  minimum  household. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  individual  cases  of  this  sort  which  are 
valuable  but  the  composite  picture  which  they  furnish  of  the 
surroundings  of  the  average  farmer  in  South  Carolina.  A  variety 
of  wills  and  inventories  leave  definite  impressions  of  a  typical 
home.  One  such  contained  an  eight-day  clock,  a  rocking  chair, 
brass  fire  dogs  and  tools,  a  number  of  cooking  utensils,  all  care- 
fully noted  by  the  appraiser,  a  lot  of  dishes  generally  in  odd 
numbers,  glassware  usually  including  one  decanter.  The  furniture 
might  vary  in  quantity  but  this,  an  average  home,  had  five  beds 
and  bedding  including  "1  long  poplar  bedstead,  1  maple  camp  bed 


«2  Charles  M.  Wiltse,  John  C.   Calhoun,  Nullifier,   1829-1839    (Indianapolis,  1949),   157. 
03  Hundley,  Social  Relations,  85. 

«*  Christopher  Oeland  to  Mrs.   E.   P.   Smith,  July  30,   1848,   Smith   Papers. 
r'5  Appraisal  of  Theodosia  Strawther,  Anderson  Appraisals  and  Sales,  October  18,  1855,  vol. 
3    (Typed  copy  in   South  Caroliniana  Library,   University   of  South   Carolina,   Columbia). 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  57 

...  2  stands,  white  bed  curtains."  Five  hair  trunks,  one  chest,  six 
Windsor  chairs  with  split  bottoms,  and  three  with  wooden  bottoms 
just  about  furnished  the  home.66 

With  a  constant  round  of  tasks  to  be  done  on  the  farm,  no 
matter  what  its  size,  there  is  little  wonder  that  the  social  life 
of  the  average  farmer  was  centered  in  his  home.  As  society 
matured,  the  church  and  the  school  added  to  this  life  other  simple 
pleasures.  In  spite  of  travelers'  tales  of  a  constant  round  of 
house-raisings,  corn-shuckings,  gander-pullings,  and  the  like,  the 
small  farmer  was  not  apt  to  get  very  far  from  his  fields  except 
for  local  political  rallies,  fairs,  and  elections.  The  wild  excitement 
of  Christmas  holidays  was  apt  to  be  reflected  in  accounts  at  the 
local  store  for  brandy  and  cigars,  or  "1  bottle  Ma.  wine,  $1.00; 
4  rockets,  $2.00."67 

One  pastime  which  was  rather  general  among  all  classes  of 
farm  society  was  the  visiting  of  friends  and  relatives.  The  cordial 
attitude  of  hospitality  was  underscored  by  a  lady  who  wrote  a 
friend  urging  a  visit :  "You  need  not  have  the  least  fear  of  caus- 
ing any  trouble  or  fatigue  to  my  housekeeping,  for  I  am  a 
miserable  housekeeper  and  I  never  allow  my  domestic  affairs  to 
trouble  me."68  This  state  of  affairs  might  have  been  the  truth  or 
a  polite  fiction  to  allay  a  friend's  anxiety  over  causing  trouble. 

The  average  farmer's  home  was  well  supplied  with  food  and  an 
inexhaustible  number  of  chickens.  Beds  were  always  available 
for  numbers  of  guests  amazing  to  modern  hostesses,  especially 
at  family  reunions.  With  only  the  trouble  and  expense  of  trans- 
portation to  consider,  this  practice  of  visiting  relations  was 
probably  the  least  expensive  way  of  amusing  oneself  in  those 
days.  Certainly  the  presence  of  any  visitor  was  a  welcome  break 
in  the  monotony  of  isolated  country  homes,  large  or  small,  and 
almost  every  letter  written  during  this  period  closed  with  a 
sincere  invitation  for  the  recipient  to  come  for  a  visit. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  reason  for  visits  across  the  state 
was  a  family  wedding  or  funeral.  To  these  affairs  almost  all  of 
the  kinfolk  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation  were  asked,  and 
one  typical  account  mentions  that  only  the  relatives  were  present, 


66  Estate  of  Elizabeth  Sawyer,  September  4,  1850,  Anderson  Appraisals,  111,  163-4. 

67  Bill  dated  December  23,   1854,  Fulmer-Clark  Papers. 

68  M.   P.   Singleton   to  Augusta   Converse,    July   3,    1851,   Singleton    Family   Letters    (Manu- 
script Division,  Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C). 


58  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

"they,  you  know  are  numerous."69  Another  account  explains  that 
because  of  a  recent  death  in  the  family  only  relatives  were 
present  at  a  wedding.  Enough  of  them  managed  to  arrive,  how- 
ever, "to  fill  comfortably  two  very  large  rooms,"  and  the  following 
day  a  dinner  was  served  to  "30  sitting  down  at  one  table  which 
was  almost  too  much  for  the  large  dining  room."70 

During  the  time  spent  around  the  home  there  was  a  good  deal 
of  reading.  It  was  chiefly  newspapers,  often  agricultural  journals 
or  religious  books  judging  from  the  reports  gathered  in  ap- 
praisals of  households  effects.  Often  the  identity  was  hidden  by 
a  careless  evaluator  under  the  heading  "1  lot  old  books,  .75,"  or 
"2  books  history,  .50."  Fortunately  there  exist  more  explicit 
inventories.  One  farmer's  library  contained  "1  book  Life  of 
Christ,  1  do.  American  Lawyer,  1  farmer's  Barn  Book,  1  book 
Information  for  the  People,  ...  1  History  of  Sacred  Mountains."71 

The  appraisal  of  a  widow's  property  was  apt  to  mention  be- 
tween the  sheep  shears  and  the  turned  bedstead,  such  works  as 
"3  vol.  Children  of  the  Abbey,  15  vol.  Evangelical  Family  Library, 
1  Psalm  Book,  &  1  Village  Hymns."72 

It  is  not  possible  to  judge  the  taste  of  the  people  entirely  by 
the  contents  of  their  bookshelves,  for  too  many  of  the  books  had 
probably  been  inherited  with  the  bookcases  and  the  secretaries 
which  housed  them.  When  the  estate  contained  only  a  few  books, 
however,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  read  and  reread.  From  the 
surveys  of  various  libraries  among  the  farm  folk  of  this  state  it 
seems  that  the  general  reading  was  divided  chiefly  between 
religious  works,  some  history  and  biography,  notably  Weems's 
Franklin  and  Washington,  which  appeared  in  many  inventories, 
and  a  scattering  of  light  novels. 

The  libraries  of  lawyers  and  doctors  among  the  farmers 
naturally  contained  a  high  percentage  of  professional  books. 
Scattered  among  these  volumes  were  usually  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  classics.  Perhaps  these  were  inherited  from  an  earlier  day 
when  gentlemen  read  Horace  for  wit  and  Cicero  for  style,  or  they 
may  have  been  textbooks  of  the  owner's  youth.  It  is  doubtful 


69  H.  H.  Townes,  May  9,  1847,  Townes  Papers. 

70  B.  Coles  to  Marion  Converse,  March  11,   1853,  Singleton  Papers. 

71  Estate  of  David  Skelton,  April  23,  1856,  Anderson  Appraisals,  IV,  88-89. 

72  Estate  of  Jane  W.  McMurry,  November  29,   1852,  Anderson  Appraisals,   III,   38. 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  59 

whether  their  contents  made  much  impression  on  the  South 
Carolinian  of  1850. 

The  discussion  of  the  reading  matter  available  for  the  farm 
population  brings  up  the  natural  question  as  to  the  education 
available  to  them.  From  the  statistics  furnished  by  the  unpub- 
lished census  of  1850  almost  no  head  of  a  farm  family  admitted 
being  illiterate,  and  in  none  of  the  sample  counties  did  the  il- 
literacy rate  amount  to  as  much  as  ten  per  cent  of  the  farm  popu- 
lation.73 Even  considering  the  figures  in  the  published  census  for 
1850  which  lists  the  number  of  white  persons  over  twenty  who 
could  not  read  or  write,  the  state  stands  up  well  for  one  of  the 
"uneducated  Southern  states." 

Certainly  it  was  not  the  fine  school  system  which  was  responsi- 
ble for  the  low  rate  of  illiteracy.  Indeed  there  was  nothing  but 
criticism  for  the  state  schools  in  1850.  Three  years  before  this 
time  one  of  the  legislators  had  remarked  that  "there  is  scarce 
a  state  in  the  union,  in  which  so  great  an  apathy  exists  on  the 
subject  of  education  of  the  people,  as  in  the  state  of  South  Caro- 
lina." And  another  added  that  the  free  school  system  of  the  state 
was  a  failure.74 

The  plan  had  been  established  in  1848  to  offer  to  each  of  the 
counties  support  at  the  rate  of  $300  for  each  member  of  the 
legislature  from  each  county.  This  fund  was  to  be  administered 
by  a  local  board  of  commissioners  appointed  by  the  legislature 
and  serving  without  salaries.  The  amounts  granted  the  counties 
was  woefully  insufficient  for  the  numbers  of  children  to  be  edu- 
cated and  the  local  commissioners  were  not  anxious  to  work  at 
the  matter.  The  additional  stigma  of  "charity  school"  so  often 
clung  to  these  state  supported  institutions  that  many  a  poor  but 
sturdy  yeoman  farmer  refused  to  send  his  children  to  them. 

The  education  provided  for  the  rural  areas  were  generally  of 
two  types,  the  local  day  school  which  was  the  result  of  a  sub- 
scription in  the  neighborhood,  and  the  more  impressive  academy. 
The  first  type  might  develop  sufficient  reputation  to  draw  stu- 
dents from  the  whole  area  and  would  grow  into  an  academy,  as 
did  the  "old  field  school"  of  Moses  Waddell.  Usually  they  provided 


73  Seventh  Census,  1850  Schedule  I    (unpublished). 

74  Report  of  the  Special  Committee  on  Education,  Reports  and  Resolutions  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  1847   (Columbia,  1848),  206. 


60  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

simple  primary  classes  with  some  advance  instruction  for  the 
more  promising  pupils.  A  group  of  farmers  in  the  upcountry 
signed  an  agreement  to  contribute  a  total  of  $600  annually  to 
make  possible  an  academy  in  the  neighborhood.  The  building  was 
to  be  "32  by  20  feet  with  a  chimney  at  each  end."  The  rates  of 
tuition  for  the  basic  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  were  $15  a 
session,  with  English  grammar,  geography,  and  mathematics  $5 
extra.  The  addition  of  Latin  and  Greek  raised  the  total  tuition  to 
$30  a  session.75 

In  addition  to  the  local  schools,  there  was  usually  one  agency 
in  most  neighborhoods  which  attempted  to  educate.  This  was  the 
Sunday  school.  The  movement  began  with  great  vigor  in  many 
villages  of  the  state  and  soon  lost  its  impetus.  One  young  lady 
wrote  quite  frankly  to  a  friend  that  her  group  of  friends  had 
tried  to  conduct  such  schools  but  had  given  up.  "There  are  no  poor 
people,  &  those  of  the  better  class  were  as  well  qualified  to  teach 
their  children  at  home  as  those  who  would  go  to  the  church  to 
do  it "76 

The  Pendleton  Sunday  School  Society,  however,  began  a  broad 
program  to  "have  children  and  adults  taught  to  read  the  Holy 
Bible  and  give  them  other  instruction."  A  superintendent  and 
teachers  volunteered  and  the  society  began  classes  suitable  to  all 
stages  of  learning.  The  school  was  open  to  members  of  all  de- 
nominations. Perhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  progress 
of  this  school  was  with  the  Negro  slaves  who  were  taught  the 
Bible  with  the  permission  of  their  masters.77 

Throughout  the  later  ante-bellum  period,  though  there  may 
have  been  little  attention  paid  to  educating  the  slaves  to  read, 
there  was  a  definite  concern  for  teaching  both  black  and  white 
to  know  the  Bible.  And  in  the  twenty  years  previous  to  the  Civil 
War  there  were  great  efforts  made  in  South  Carolina  to  organize 
the  Negroes  into  churches.  After  the  split  of  the  major  denomina- 
tions from  their  northern  brethren,  the  southern  branch  recruited 
Negro  members  with  great  vigor.  In  most  of  the  smaller  churches 
of  the  state  there  were  mixed  congregations  segregated  by  seats, 
but  at  that  time  it  was  also  a  practice  to  segregate  the  sexes 
among  the  whites. 


75  Notice  dated  August  3,  1848,  Smith  Papers. 

76  A.  W.  to  Harriet  Simons,  August  28,   1834,   Simons   Family  Letters    (South  Caroliniana 
Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 

77  Minutes  and  Accounts,  Pendleton  Sunday  School  Society,  1819-1934,  June  24,  1820   (typed 
copy  in  South  Caroliniana  Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  61 

It  is  believed  that  by  1860  South  Carolina  had  more  than  85,000 
Negroes  as  members  of  one  of  the  four  major  denominations, 
or  about  one-fifth  of  the  total  slave  population  of  that  state.78 
Undoubtedly  many  of  the  masters  encouraged  participation  of 
their  slaves  in  church  membership  not  only  as  a  spiritual  or 
moral  duty,  but  as  a  method  of  controlling  them,  for  the  primary 
lessons  taught  them  were  the  beauties  and  joys  of  the  future 
world  if  they  were  cheerful  and  obedient  in  this  present  vale  of 
tears. 

For  the  white  members  as  well  as  the  Negroes  the  churches 
were  both  a  restraining  force  and  an  emotional  outlet.  Even  a 
brief  survey  of  the  records  left  by  rural  churches  in  the  state 
reveals  this  fact. 

Some  of  the  white  members  were  disciplined  by  their  church 
for  "excess  drinking  of  spiritous  liquors/'  "Rumor  or  report  of 
intemperate  drinking,"  "bastardy  and  fornication,"  "Sins  of 
drunkeness,  offering  to  fite,  running  his  family  from  home,  also 
for  Contempt  of  the  Church  when  sent  for  to  ancer  the  above."79 

Perhaps  not  so  well  known  among  the  controls  which  the 
church  held  over  the  local  inhabitants  was  the  pressure  which 
the  congregation  exerted  toward  enforcing  payment  of  debts. 
Two  examples  will  serve  to  illustrate  this  point. 

Resolved  that  as  sister  Elizabeth  Telford  left  this  State  en- 
debted  to  Dr.  Senter  and  being  satisfied  that  she  could  have 
settled  the  same  and  has  not  done  so — that  the  letter  of  dismissal 
be  detained  until  Dr.  Senter  be  paid. 

Letter  refused  Br.  H.  E.  Mellichamp  until  he  should  make 
satisfactory  settlement  of  his  debts.80 

In  a  small  socially  knit  rural  area,  refusal  of  membership  in 
a  church  was  a  very  potent  factor  for  conformity  to  the  accepted 
folkways  and  mores  of  the  area.  For  a  really  important  function 
of  the  rural  churches  was  their  social  activity.  Not  only  were 
there  the  weekly  or  bi-weekly  services  often  followed  by  dinner 
on  the  ground,  but  also  the  protracted  meeting  and  the  larger 


78  Luther  P.  Jackson,  "Religious  Instruction  of  Negroes,  1830-1860,  With  Special  Reference 
to  South  Carolina,"  Journal  of  Negro  History,  XV    (1930),  107. 

79  Minutes,   Big  Creek  Baptist  Church,  Anderson   County,  II,   July   1,   1854    (typed  copy  in 
South  Caroliniana  Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 

80  Minutes,    Sandy    Level    Baptist    Church,    Fairfield    County,    49-50,     (typed    copy    in    South 
Caroliniana  Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 


62  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

camp  meetings.  These  affairs  attracted  crowds  from  all  over 
the  counties  and  often  from  neighboring  localities.  The  social 
aspect  of  such  a  gathering  was  important.  One  lady  wrote  to 
have  a  new  bonnet  made  for  her  and  sent  within  two  weeks,  "as 
I  have  none  that  is  decent  to  wear  to  the  campmeeting."81  An- 
other visitor  commented  that  a  meeting  of  this  nature  near 
Newberry  attracted  about  four  thousand  people  and  "a  great 
many  splendid  carriages  were  gathered."  The  scene  was  the 
usual  one  so  often  pictured,  though  here  the  "people  seemed  more 
temperate  in  the  expression  of  their  religious  frenzy."82  Perhaps 
the  owners  of  the  "splendid  carriages"  were  in  the  majority. 

The  protracted  meeting  was  usually  restricted  to  one  church 
with  the  other  local  church  members  invited  to  attend  the  serv- 
ices. The  custom  was  generally  to  hold  two  meetings  a  day  for  a 
week  or  two.  The  preaching  in  the  morning  and  evening  was 
broken  by  "a  social  meeting  and  an  opportunity  offered  for  new 
membership  at  four."83 

Often  among  the  rural  areas  the  pastor  was  apt  to  be  a  circuit 
rider  preaching  every  Sunday  at  a  different  charge,  or  a  local 
farmer  who  was  licensed  to  exhort.  In  more  settled  areas  the 
preacher  would  be  selected  to  reach  the  educational  level  of  the 
congregation,  and  the  more  formal  churches  prided  themselves 
on  having  highly  cultured  ministers. 

It  would  be  scarcely  possible  to  generalize  for  the  whole  popu- 
lation from  a  sampling  such  as  this  excerpt  that  many  of  the 
conditions  described  as  typical  in  1850  are  still  recognizable  at 
the  present  in  the  rural  South.  The  basic  picture  of  the  farm 
population  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  one  of  a 
people  working  to  improve  their  lot  individually  and  to  advance 
the  progress  of  their  state.  They  were  a  folk  largely  of  southern 
stock,  born  in  South  Carolina,  and  wedded  to  the  idea  of  an  agri- 
cultural economy  based  on  slavery.  Perhaps  they  were  not  pro- 
gressive enough  to  realize  the  balance  needed  by  the  state  in 
industrial  and  commercial  development.  But  as  long  as  rice  and 
cotton  culture  were  profitable  it  would  have  been  foolish  to  expect 


81  L.  Townes  to  sister,  July  24,  1841,  Townes  Papers. 

82  C.  Oeland  to  Mrs.  E.  P.  Smith,  August  4,  1848,  Smith  Papers. 

88  Churchbook,  Euhaw  Baptist  Church,  Beaufort,  1831-1870,  September  21,  1849,  84    (typed 
copy,  South  Caroliniana  Library,  University  of  South  Carolina,  Columbia). 


Society  in  Rural  South  Carolina  63 

the  people  to  change  from  a  known  economy  to  one  unknown, 
even  with  Utopian  potentialities. 

The  state  was  improving  and  the  rural  areas  were  prospering 
in  1850.  This  is  attested  by  the  records  in  the  census  for  that 
year.  Since  this  census  material  has  been  of  such  value  to  this 
study  it  is  only  fitting  to  add  the  words  of  the  superintendent, 
J.  D.  B.  De  Bow,  on  the  value  of  such  records : 

Duty  to  coming  generations  requires  that  documents  containing 
so  many  proofs  relating  to  the  history  of  the  present  should  be 
carefully  guarded  from  injury  and  harm.  .  .  .  They  comprise  no 
insignificant  portion  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  living;  and 
long  after  all  those  whose  names  they  contain  have  passed  from 
the  earth,  will  they  be  appealed  to  as  proof  of  our  having  lived, 
our  place  of  residence,  our  children,  and  our  property.84 

84  The  Seventh  Census:  Report  of  the  Superintendent  for  December  1,  1852    (Robert  Arm- 
strong, Printer,  Washington,  1853),  127. 


THE  FREEDMEN'S  BUREAU  AND  NEGRO  EDUCATION 

IN  VIRGINIA 

By  William  T.  Alderson 

On  March  3,  1865,  little  more  than  a  month  before  Lee's  sur- 
render to  Grant  at  Appomattox,  President  Lincoln  approved  an 
act  of  Congress  to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen, 
and  Abandoned  Lands.  Better  known  as  the  Freedmen's  Bureau, 
this  agency  was  charged  with  the  supervision  and  management 
of  abandoned  lands  and  "the  control  of  all  subjects  relating  to 
refugees  and  freedmen."  The  President  was  authorized  to  ap- 
point a  Commissioner,  who  was  to  be  responsible  for  the  "man- 
agement and  control"  of  the  Bureau,  and  Assistant  Commission- 
ers, who  were  to  be  assigned  to  the  individual  states  to  administer 
Bureau  affairs.  Major  General  Oliver  Otis  Howard  was  appointed 
Commissioner  on  May  12,  1865,  and  on  his  recommendation 
Captain  Orlando  Brown  was  appointed  Assistant  Commissioner 
for  Virginia.1 

When  Captain  Brown  opened  his  headquarters  at  Richmond  on 
May  31,  1865,  one  of  his  first  responsibilities  was  to  assist  in  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  education  for  a  mass  of  Negroes 
thirsting  for  the  formal  instruction  which  had  been  denied 
them  during  the  years  of  slavery.2  "The  extraordinary  eagerness 
of  the  freedmen  for  the  advantages  of  schools"3  was  reflected  in 
the  numerous  letters  to  the  Bureau  requesting  teachers,  schools, 
and  books.  Within  two  weeks  after  the  surrender  of  Richmond 
two  teachers  had  gathered  1,075  pupils  in  the  First  African 


1  Oliver  O.  Howard,  Autobiography  of  Oliver  Otis  Howard,  Major  General  United  States 
Army  (2  vols.,  New  York,  1907),  II,  215;  General  Order  91,  War  Department,  Adjutant 
General's  Office,  May  12,  1865,  in  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands, 
MSS.,  The  National  Archives,  Washington,  D.  C.  All  manuscript  sources  hereinafter  cited, 
unless  otherwise  noted,  are  from  the  Bureau  records  in  the  Archives.  The  abbreviation 
BRFAL  will  be  used  for  all  orders,  circulars,  and  letters  emanating  from  Virginia,  and 
BRFAL,  Washington,  for  all  orders,  circulars,  and  letters  from  the  headquarters  of  the 
Bureau  in  Washington,  or  from  the  War  Department. 

This  study  is  primarily  based  on  this  extensive  collection  of  Bureau  records,  comprising 
approximately  sixty-four  linear  feet  for  Virginia  alone.  No  exhaustive  survey  of  contem- 
porary newspapers  and  similar  material  has  been  attempted. 

1  wish  to  express  my  appreciation  to  Dr.  Henry  L.  Swint  who  made  available  to  me  much 
of  his  microfilm  of  these  records,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  B.  Drewry,  Miss  Elizabeth  Bethel,  and 
Miss  Sara  Dunlap  of  the  War  Records  Division,  National  Archives,  and  to  Miss  Gladys  Long 
of  Fisk  University  Library,  who  provided  assistance  in  locating  the  materials  used  in  this 
study. 

2  Brown  to  Lt.  Col.  Fullerton,  Assistant  Adjutant  General,  June  1,  1865,  BRFAL;  Circular 
2,  May  19,  1865,  BRFAL,  Washington.  Captain  (later  Colonel  and  Brigadier  General) 
Brown  was  Assistant  Commissioner  for  Virginia  from  May  31,  1865,  to  May  21,  1866,  and 
from  March  21,  1867,  to  April  30,  1869.  General  Alfred  H.  Terry  was  Assistant  Commissioner 
from  May  to  August,  1866,  and  was  followed  by  General  John  M.  Schofield  who  served  until 
March    21,    1867. 

3  Summary  Report  of  Virginia,   Brown  to  Howard,   November   30    [sic],   1865,   BRFAL. 

[64] 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  65 

Church  of  that  city.4  "No  children  of  the  North  look  happier," 
the  American  Missionary  Association  reported,  "and  no  books 
are  dearer  to  a  child's  heart  than  the  little  green-back  primer 
each  one  carries."  Even  adult  Negroes  flocked  to  the  night  schools 
which  had  been  established  in  various  cities  of  the  state.5 

The  desire  of  the  Negro  for  education  was  paralleled  by  the 
desire  among  many  northerners  to  provide  it  for  him.  The 
reforming  zeal  of  the  abolitionists  found  a  new  outlet  in  the 
uplifting  of  the  degraded,  newly-freed  slaves.  The  education  of 
the  freedmen  became  "the  great  work  of  the  day."6  Lyman 
Abbott,  an  industrious  worker  for  Negro  education,  perhaps 
typified  the  thought  of  many  northerners  when  he  wrote  in 
1864:  "We  have  not  only  to  conquer  the  South, — we  have  also 
to  convert  it.  We  have  only  to  occupy  it  by  bayonets  and  bullets, — 
but  also  by  ideas  and  institutions.  We  have  not  only  to  destroy 
slavery, — we  must  also  organize  freedom."7  The  backward  South 
of  slaves,  poor  whites,  and  haughty  aristocrats  must  be  con- 
verted, and  what  better  method  could  be  followed  than  the 
spreading  of  "New-England  ideas  and  New-England  education."8 
Another  large  group  of  northerners  seems  to  have  been  primarily 
motivated  by  religious  zeal,  and  for  this  group  the  school  became 
a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  mission.9  Still  others  were  influenced  by 
humanitarian  interests — a  desire  to  improve  the  condition  of 
the  freedmen,  coupled,  perhaps,  with  a  sense  of  moral  responsi- 
bility toward  the  helpless  Negroes  whose  freedom  was  partially 
due  to  their  efforts. 

The  most  important  forces  in  organizing  northern  efforts  for 
Negro  education  and  collecting  the  necessary  funds  for  its  sup- 
port were  the  northern  benevolent  organizations.  These  societies, 
many  of  which  had  been  founded  during  the  abolitionist  crusade 
and  during  the  Civil  War,  attempted  to  relieve  the  wants  and 
protect  the  rights  of  the  freedmen,  and  provide  for  their  educa- 


4  American  Freedman,  I    (May,  1866),  29. 

"American  Missionary,  IX  (June,  1865),  124;  report  of  Reverend  H.  W.  Gilbert,  agent  of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  American  Missionary,  IX  (May,  1865),  103;  letter  of  Miss  J.  W. 
Duncan,  Richmond,  June  9,  1865,  American  Missionary,  IX  (August,  1865),  171.  When 
corroborative  evidence  is  sufficient,  the  full  names  of  teachers  and  Bureau  agents  and  the 
location  of  their  stations  will  be  supplied  if  this   information   is  lacking  in   the  source   itself. 

6  General  Samuel  C.  Armstrong,  quoted  in  Francis  G.  Peabody,  Education  for  Life:  the 
Story  of  Hampton  Institute    (New  York,  1919),  92. 

7  Lyman  Abbott,  "Southern  Evangelization,"  in  New  Englander,  XXIII  (October,  1864), 
701. 

8  Ednah  D.  Cheney  to  Edward  Atkinson,  July  7,  1865,  in  Freedmen' 's  Record,  I  (August, 
1865),   129. 

9  Report  of  the  Freedmen' s  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (Cincinnati, 
1868),  6. 


66  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

tion;  and  it  was  by  co-operation  with  them  that  the  Bureau 
established  its  schools.  Prominent  among  these  associations  in 
the  work  of  freedmen's  education  in  Virginia  were  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  the  New  York  National  Freedmen's 
Relief  Association,  the  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  the 
Baptist  Home  Mission  Society,  the  Friends  Freedmen's  Relief 
Association,  and  the  American  Freedmen's  Union  Commission. 
The  American  Missionary  Association  claimed  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  organization  to  open  a  freedmen's  school,  having 
established  one  near  Fortress  Monroe  shortly  after  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War.  Other  organizations  had  followed  the  Union 
armies  into  Virginia,  supplying  teachers  and  providing  schools.10 
Assistant  Commissioner  Brown  reported  that  during  the  school 
year  1864-1865  approximately  250  teachers  had  been  employed  in 
the  state11  and  although  this  figure  seems  high  it  at  least  gives 
some  indication  of  the  amount  of  activity  in  Negro  education. 

Until  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau  the  benevolent  organiza- 
tions had  supported  their  own  schools  and  there  had  been  little 
centralized  supervision  of  the  schools  and  teachers.  Thus,  for 
the  sake  of  efficiency  and  to  prevent  duplicated  effort,  it  was  to 
the  advantage  of  the  Bureau  to  co-ordinate  the  activities  of  the 
benevolent  organizations  and  to  formulate  a  uniform  system  of 
Negro  education.  With  this  object  in  mind,  Brown,  on  June  20, 
1865,  appointed  Professor  W.  H.  Woodbury  as  Superintendent  of 
Schools  for  Freedmen.12  Explaining  that  there  were  no  Bureau 
funds  with  which  to  pay  Woodbury's  salary,  the  Assistant  Com- 
missioner expressed  the  hope  that  the  various  benevolent  societies 
of  the  North  would  see  that  he  was  properly  reimbursed  for  his 
services.13  Woodbury  served  for  a  short  period  and  was  then 
replaced  by  Chaplain  Ralza  Morse  Manly  of  the  1st  U.  S.  Colored 
Cavalry,  who  had  been  assigned  to  duty  at  Brown's  headquarters 
on  June  22,  1865.14  Manly  was  eminently  qualified  for  the  posi- 


10  Histories  of  the  Benevolent  Organizations,  Office  of  the  Commissioner,  Educational 
Division,  Synopsis  of  School  Reports,  BRFAL,  Washington.  See  also  A.  D.  Mayo,  "The 
Work  of  Certain  Northern  Churches  in  the  Education  of  the  Freedmen,  1861-1900,"  in 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  Year  1902   (Washington,  1903),  285-314. 

For  an  indication  of  their  lack  of  sympathy  for  the  destitute  "rebels"  of  the  state,  see 
E.  C.  Estes,  Secretary,  National  Freedmen's  Relief  Association  of  New  York,  to  Manly, 
September  20,  22,  26,  1866,  BRFAL.  Estes,  anxious  to  insure  that  society's  Richmond 
schools  against  loss  due  to  fire,  desired  Manly  to  "get  the  Policy  from  a  Richmond  Company 
so  that  the  loss  would  fall  on  the  citizens  of  Virginia." 

11  Brown  to  Howard,  June  27,  1865,  BRFAL. 
^Special  Order  3,   June  20,   1865,   BRFAL. 

13  Brown  to  Woodbury,  June  20,  1865,  BRFAL. 
"Special  Order  8,  June  22,  1865,  BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  67 

tion.  In  addition  to  his  work  with  Negroes  during  the  war,  he 
also  had  served  as  Principal  of  the  Troy  Conference  Academy  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  at  Poultney,  Vermont,  and  of 
the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary  of  the  same  church,  at 
Northfield,  New  Hampshire.15  "An  unusually  well-balanced  and 
sane  school  official,"16  Manly  displayed  a  better  than  average 
understanding  of  the  whites  of  the  state,  and,  in  line  with  Bureau 
policy,17  worked  diligently  for  a  system  of  free  public  schools  in 
Virginia.  His  record  as  Superintendent  of  Education  for  the 
Bureau  is  a  testimonial  to  the  effectiveness  of  his  leadership. 

When  the  Bureau  was  established  it  had  been  provided  that 
the  abandoned  and  confiscated  lands  might  be  set  apart  "for  the 
use  of  loyal  refugees  and  freedmen,"  and  Bureau  superintendents 
were  authorized  to  requisition  such  lands  as  might  be  necessary 
for  schools  and  quarters  for  teachers.18  Under  this  provision 
ample  lands  and  buildings  would  have  been  available  for  the  sup- 
port of  schools  but  this  design  was  thwarted  by  President 
Johnson's  amnesty  proclamation  of  May  29,  1865.  Under  the 
terms  of  this  proclamation  thousands  of  Confederates  were 
pardoned  by  taking  a  simple  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.  Once  pardoned,  they  were  entitled  to  the  return  of  lands 
which  they  had  "abandoned' '  and,  as  a  result,  the  vast  acreage 
over  which  the  Bureau  had  expected  to  hold  jurisdiction  shrank 
rapidly  to  those  lands  owned  by  men  not  within  the  provisions 
of  the  proclamation,  plus  those  lands  which  had  belonged  to  the 
Confederate  government  and  were  considered  confiscated  and 
not  returnable.19 

Deprived  of  the  revenues  from  these  lands,  the  Bureau  limited 
its  financial  support  of  Negro  education  to  the  rental  and  repair 
of  school  buildings20  and  the  benevolent  organizations  undertook 
to  pay  the  salaries  of  teachers.  In  order  to  improve  the  distribu- 
tion of  effort  and  to  avoid  a  conflict  of  interests,  each  organiza- 
tion was  invited  to  undertake  educational  work  in  a  specified 


15  Alumni  Record  of  Wesleyan  University,  fourth  edition  (Middletown,  Conn.,  1911),  class 
of  1848,  as  quoted  in  a  letter  from  Ida  M.  Moody,  Secretary  to  Bishop  John  Wesley  Lord, 
in  the  possession  of  the  author. 

16  Henry  L.  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  1862-1870    (Nashville,  1941),  131. 

17  Circular  11,  July  12,  1865,  BRFAL,  Washington. 

18  General  Order  91,  War  Department,  Adjutant  General's  Office,  May  12,  1865,  BRFAL, 
Washington;  Special  Order  14,  July  3,  1865,  BRFAL. 

19  Circular  15,  September  12,  1865,  BRFAL,  Washington,  in  House  Executive  Documents, 
39  Cong.,  1  Sess.,  no.  70   (Serial  1256),  193. 

20  O.  O.  Howard  to  Lyman  Abbott,  August  18,  1865,  in  Pennsylvania  Freedmen's  Bulletin 
and  American  Freedman,  I    (September,  1866),  82. 


68  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

district  of  the  state  and  to  assign  its  own  local  superintendent 
of  schools.  Bureau  agents  sought  to  determine  the  most  favorable 
localities  for  the  establishment  of  schools,  and  were  ordered  to 
submit  reports  on  the  possible  attendance  at  the  schools  and  on 
facilities  available  for  schoolhouses  and  quarters  for  teachers.21 
Assistant  Commissioner  Brown  addressed  the  freedmen  on  their 
new  status  and  responsibilities,  and  urged  them  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  educational  facilities  which  would  be  available  to 
them.  "You  will  remember,"  he  wrote,  "that  in  your  condition 
as  freedmen,  education  is  of  the  highest  importance."22 

Although  a  few  schools  were  in  operation  during  the  summer 
months  most  schools  did  not  open  until  October,  1865.23  Nearly 
one-half  of  the  teachers  and  pupils  in  freedmen's  schools  in  the 
state  were  concentrated  at  four  leading  points:  Norfolk  and 
vicinity,  Fortress  Monroe  and  vicinity,  Petersburg,  and  Rich- 
mond. These  areas  contained  approximately  one-eighth  of  the 
Negro  population  in  the  state.  Richmond,  with  one-twentieth  of 
the  Negro  population,  contained  one-fifth  of  the  total  number  of 
schools.  The  presence  of  the  army  in  these  areas,  Superintendent 
Manly  reported,  rendered  it  easier  to  secure  school  rooms  and 
quarters  for  teachers,  and  assured  more  quiet  and  "lawful"  work. 
Many  schools  were  convened  in  "basement  vestries,  in  audience 
rooms  of  churches — in  rough  barrack  buildings,  or  hospital 
wards,  without  suitable  furniture  and  appliances,  often  with 
from  two  to  six  teachers  and  several  hundred  children  in  the 
same  room."24  Their  poor  material  condition  was  somewhat 
recompensed  by  the  glorified  titles  applied  to  the  schools.  Hamp- 
ton had  one  school  named  for  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler  and 
another  for  Lincoln.  One  of  the  schools  at  Danville  was  known 
as  "The  Manly  Division,"  and  another  at  Alexandria  was  called 
"L'Ouverture  School,"  apparently  for  the  "Black  Napoleon."  A 
teacher  at  Poplar  Grove  even  went  so  far  as  to  give  names  to 
the  various  classes.  The  ABC  class  was  termed  the  "McClellan" 
class;  those  who  were  engaged  in  tablet  reading  with  words  of 
two  or  three  letters  belonged  to  the  "Sheridan"  class ;  beginners 


21  Manly,  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,   1866,   BRFAL;   General   Order  10,   August 
18,    1865,   BRFAL. 

22  To  the  Freedmen   of  Virginia,   July   1,   1865,   BRFAL. 

23  State  Superintendent's  Monthly  School  Reports,   1865.   BRFAL. 

24  Manly,  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,   1866,   BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  69 

at  primer  reading  composed  the  "Sherman"  class;  and  "the 
best  readers  glory  in  being  subject  to  'Grant'."25 

The  teachers  who  conducted  these  schools  were,  for  the  most 
part,  natives  of  the  Northeast,  particularly  Massachusetts  and 
New  York.  Motivated  by  humanitarian  and  religious  sentiment 
and  abolitionist  experience,  they  entered  their  work  with  en- 
thusiasm and  zeal,  working  for  what  would  have  been  a  "pittance 
in  the  North,"  and  often  adding  night  schools  and  Sunday  schools 
to  their  regular  duties.26  Bringing  with  them  a  feeling  of  con- 
tempt for  the  whites  and  particularly  for  the  "proud  aristocratic 
F.  F.  Vs.,"27  they  sought,  by  their  actions  and  by  their  teaching, 
to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  freedmen  the  social,  political, 
and  abolitionist  attitudes  of  the  victorious  North.  Coming  into 
conflict  with  the  mores  and  attitudes  of  the  white  Virginians, 
and  probably  flaunting  their  Union  victory  in  the  faces  of  the 
defeated  Confederates,  they  seem  to  have  been  the  most  impor- 
tant cause  of  white  opposition  to  Negro  schools.28 

The  attitude  of  the  whites  toward  the  freedmen's  schools  in 
the  school  year  1865-1866  ranged  from  amused  tolerance  to 
violent  hostility.  The  Charlottesville  Chronicle,  for  example, 
boasted  that  Charlottesville  well  might  claim  to  be  the  literary 
center  of  the  South  on  the  basis  of  the  presence  there  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  two  female  seminaries,  half  a  dozen 
academies  for  boys,  several  other  select  schools,  and  the  "whole 
colored  population  of  all  sexes  and  ages"  which  repeated  "from 
morning  to  night  a-b — ab,  e-b — eb,  i-b,  ib ;  c-a-t — cat ;  d-o-g — dog ; 
c-u-p — cup ;  etc."  It  facetiously  announced  a  future  evening  edi- 
tion "in  monosyllables,  to  increase  our  circulation — perhaps  a 
pictorial . . .  like  the  primers."29  Many  whites  apparently  doubted 


25  M.  F.  Armstrong  and  Helen  W.  Ludlow,  Hampton  and  Its  Students  (New  York,  1875), 
67;  George  Dixon,  Danville,  to  Manly,  May  21,  1868,  BRFAL;  report  of  Henry  Fish,  Alexan- 
dria, December,  1865,  in  National  Freedman,  I  (December  15,  1865),  353;  letter  of  Miss 
Carrie  E.  Blood,  Poplar  Grove,  April  30,  1866,  in  National  Freedman,  II    (May,  1866),  145. 

26  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  ch.  Ill,  passim,  Appendix  III,  175-200; 
Mayo,  "Churches  in  the  Education  of  the  Freedmen,"  290;  Freedmen's  Record,  I  (May,  1865), 
70.  One  teacher  reported  that  she  and  her  associate  were  giving  "concerts  and  exhibitions" 
to  raise  money  for  their  school;  letter  of  Bessie  L.  Canedy,  Richmond,  February  12,  1868,  in 
Freedmen's  Record,  IV    (March,   1868),  42-43. 

27  Letter  of  J.  S.  Banfield,  Alexandria,  March  31,  1865,  in  Freedmen's  Record,  I  (May, 
1865),  75;  letter  of  W.  S.  Coan,  Richmond,  May  25,  1865,  in  American  Missionary,  IX  (July, 
1865),  156;  S.  K.  Whiting,  Petersburg,  to  Manly,  December  1,   1865,   BRFAL. 

28  Letter  of  Susan  H.  Clark,  Slabtown  (near  Fortress  Monroe),  January,  1867,  in  American 
Missionary,  XI  (March,  1867),  64;  Samuel  Lloyd,  Rappahannock  County,  to  General  John 
M.  Schofield,  July  22,  1867,  BRFAL;  Richmond  Republican  [May  ?,  1865],  quoted  in  National 
Freedman,  I  (June  1,  1865),  162;  L.  A.  Birchett,  Petersburg,  to  Manly,  June  12,  1869, 
BRFAL;  letter  of  Bessie  L.  Canedy,  Richmond,  April  3,  1868,  in  Freedmen's  Record,  IV 
(May,  1868),  79;  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  ch.  IV,  passim. 

29  Charlottesville  Chronicle,  no  date  given,  quoted  in  American  Missionary,  IX  ( November, 
1865),   242. 


70  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  efficacy  of  instructing  the  laboring  population,  particularly 
in  regard  to  some  of  the  subject  matter.  The  Richmond  Times 
of  January  16,  1866,  indicated  this  sentiment: 

White  cravatted  gentlemen  from  Andover,  with  a  nasal  twang, 
and  pretty  Yankee  girls,  with  the  smallest  of  hands  and  feet,  have 
flocked  to  the  South  as  missionary  ground,  and  are  communi- 
cating a  healthy  moral  tone  to  the  'colored  folks/  besides  instruct- 
ing them  in  chemistry,  botany,  and  natural  philosophy,  teaching 
them  to  speak  French,  sing  Italian,  and  walk  Spanish,  so  that  in 
time  we  are  bound  to  have  intelligent,  and,  probably,  intellectual 
labor.30 

During  the  year  eight  schoolhouses  and  churches  were  burned 
and  several  teachers  were  assaulted  or  threatened.31  Available 
evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  the  school  and  church  burnings 
were  primarily  the  result  of  vandalism,  and  General  Howard 
stated  that  they  had  not  involved  "the  better  portion  of  the  com- 
munities/'32 The  seriousness  of  the  assaults  on  teachers  often 
was  magnified  by  the  multiplicity  of  reports  thereon,  and  some 
were  the  result  of  boyish  pranks  rather  than  adult  vandalism.33 
White  opposition  to  freedmen's  schools  usually  was  expressed, 
not  in  assaults,  threats,  or  burnings,  but  by  obstructing  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Bureau  and  benevolent  organizations  to  secure  meet- 
ing places  for  schools  and  quarters  and  board  for  teachers.  The 
teacher  at  Bermuda  Hundred  who  secured  board  with  a  "gal- 
vanized rebel,"  as  he  called  his  landlady,  was  more  fortunate 
than  most,  and  even  in  such  a  case  social  pressure  might  force 
an  eviction.34  One  teacher  reported  that  he  had  been  able  to 
find  accommodations  in  only  two  places  in  three  counties,  and 
one  of  those  was  with  a  Negro  family.35  Particularly  galling  to 
these  northern  teachers  was  the  social  ostracism  to  which  they 
were  subjected.  Often,  in  their  association  with  whites,  they 


30  Richmond  Times,  January  16,  1866,  quoted  in  William  H.  Brown,  The  Education  and 
Economic  Development  of  the  Negro  in  Virginia,  Publications  of  the  University  of  Virginia, 
Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  Papers,  Number  Six  ([Charlottesville,  1923?]),  43;  see  also  Manly, 
report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1866,  BRFAL;  and  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months 
ending  June  30,  1869,  BRFAL. 

81  Manly,  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,   1866,   BRFAL. 

32  Howard,  Autobiography,  II,  375-76;  Baltimore  Sun,  no  date  given,  quoted  in  National 
Freedman,  I   (May,  1866),  149. 

33  Captain  A.  S.  Flagg,  Norfolk,  to  Brown,  May  18,  1866,  BRFAL:  Major  James  Johnson, 
Fredericksburg,  to  Brown,  February  23,  1866,  BRFAL;  Major  G.  B.  Carse,  Lexington,  to 
W.  Stover  How,  February  26,  and  March  20,  1866,  BRFAL;  W.  Stover  How,  Winchester, 
to  Brown,  March  23,  1866,  BRFAL;  C.  Thurston  Chase,  Warrenton,  to  Brown,  April  2,  6, 
1866,   BRFAL. 

•"^Willard  S.  Allen  to  Manly,  November  11,  1865,  BRFAL;  Jenny  E.  Howard  and  Mary  M. 
Nichols,  Stanardsville,  to  Brown,   June  13,   1866,   BRFAL. 

86  N.  Coleman  to  [Manly?  or  Brown?],  October  5,   1865,  BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  71 

encountered  "the  averted  eye  and  silent  contempt  ...  or  that 
feminine  accomplishment,  peculiar  to  Southern  gentility,  of 
'gathering  up  their  skirts,'  that,  in  passing,  their  dresses  shall 
escape  the  hated  contact."36 

Despite  the  scattered  instances  of  open  violence  and  a  general 
opposition  to  freedmen's  schools  and  their  teachers,  the  school 
program  thrived  and  expanded.  Opening  in  October,  1865,  with 
67  schools,  136  teachers,  and  8,528  pupils,  by  March,  1866,  there 
were  145  schools,  225  teachers,  and  17,589  pupils.  A  report  in 
April  reveals  that  the  American  Missionary  Association  was 
supporting  53  teachers;  the  New  York  National  Freedmen's 
Relief  Association,  36 ;  the  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society, 
20;  the  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society,  24;  the  True  Friends 
Society  of  Philadelphia,  49 ;  and  the  Episcopal  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 5.  Twenty-nine  teachers  and  1,057  pupils  were  in  self- 
supporting  schools.37 

At  the  close  of  the  school  year  General  Alfred  H.  Terry,  who 
had  succeeded  Brown  as  Assistant  Commissioner,  reported  that 
despite  a  gradual  enlarging  of  the  school  system  there  had  been 
"a  considerable  number  of  earnest  calls  for  teachers  and  books 
for  Freedmen,"  which  could  not  be  met  due  to  the  "lack  of  means 
at  the  control  of  the  benevolent  associations.  .  .  .  No  appreciable 
amount  of  sympathy  or  assistance  from  citizens  is  to  be  looked 
for,"  he  continued. 

Many  of  the  better  class  of  white  citizens  . . .  favour  the  education 
and  elevation  of  the  negro,  while  all  the  religious  conventions 
of  the  state  have  endorsed  the  same  idea — But  the  controling 
[sic']  classes  have  neither  the  disposition  nor  the  ability  to  under- 
take any  part  of  the  practical  work,  beyond  a  very  little  in 
Sunday  Schools.38 

The  lack  of  "disposition"  to  aid  the  education  of  Negroes  was 
ably  explained  by  one  Bureau  agent,  who  wrote : 

On  no  other  subject  are  the  white  citizens  so  sensitive  as  on 
that  of  educating  the  Freedpeople,  although  many  of  the  more 
sagacious  are  ready  to  advocate  it  when  conducted  with  pro- 
priety or,  in  other  words,  without  instilling  bad  manners  and 


36  American  Missionary,  X    (August,  1866),  173. 

37  State  Superintendent's  Monthly   School  Reports,   1865-1866,   BRFAL;   Consolidated  Report 
for  Schools,  April,   1866,   BRFAL. 

35  Terry  to  Howard,  July  13,  1866,  BRFAL. 


72  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

prejudices  against  their  former  owners  into  the  minds  of  the 
Blacks,  or  encouraging  in  them  habits  of  indolence  or  disobedi- 
ence of  lawful  orders — 39 

The  "inconsolable"  grief  of  the  Norfolk  Virginian  over  the 
impending  departure,  in  July,  1866,  of  the  Negro  "school-marms" 
who  had  taken  "shelter,  with  their  brood  of  black-birds,  under 
the  protecting  wings  of  that  all-gobbling,  and  foulest  of  all  fowls, 
the  well  known  buzzard  yclept  Freedmen's  Bureau,"  doubtless 
became  even  more  inconsolable  with  the  passage  by  Congress  of 
a  bill  extending  the  life  of  the  Bureau  for  an  additional  two 
years.  The  return  of  the  "impudent  women"  whose  real  object, 
said  the  Virginian,  "was  to  disorganize  and  demoralize  still  more 
our  peasantry  and  laboring  population,"  was  assured.40 

During  the  summer  months  of  1866  the  Bureau  renewed  its 
efforts  to  improve  the  educational  system.  An  extensive  question- 
naire was  sent  to  superintendents  of  the  various  districts  of  the 
state  requesting  a  report  on  the  probable  number  of  pupils  for 
the  coming  year,  facilities  for  school  rooms  and  teachers'  lodg- 
ings, extent  of  local  aid  to  be  expected,  amount  of  government 
lands  available  for  school  purposes,  and  public  sentiment  toward 
the  Negro  schools.41  New  buildings  were  constructed  and  many 
repairs  were  made  on  old  buildings  to  replace  or  improve  the 
small  and  over-crowded  school  rooms  of  the  previous  year.  It 
was  expected  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  schools  for  the  com- 
ing session  would  occupy  new  or  improved  rooms.42 

Superintendent  Manly  approached  the  new  school  year  with 
confidence.  The  desire  of  freedmen  for  education  showed  no 
decline  and  the  attitude  of  the  whites  had  improved  to  the  extent 
that  they  had  substituted  "toleration,  for  ill-disguised  hostility." 
He  had  been  very  pleased  by  the  frank  acknowledgment  of 
"prominent  citizens"  of  the  "wonderful  results"  that  had  been 
achieved.  The  success  of  the  schools  had  been  "unquestioned  and 
ample,"  and  he  believed  that  no  children  were  more  tractable  to 
discipline  and  few  more  apt  to  learn.  Looking  forward  toward 
his  goal  of  free  public  education  for  all,  and  to  the  time  when  the 


88  J.  W.  Sharp  to  Terry,  July  21,  1866,  BRFAL. 

40  Norfolk  Virginian,  July  2,  1866,  quoted  in  American  Missionary,  X  (August,  1866), 
174;  General  Order  61,  War  Department,  Adjutant  General's  Office,  August  9,  1866,  BRFAL, 
Washington. 

41  Circular  23,   July   18,   1866,   BRFAL. 

42  Manly,  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1866,  BRFAL. 


43  Manly,  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1866,  BRFAL. 

4*  State  Superintendent's  Monthly  School  Reports,  1866-1867,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for 
the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1867,  BRFAL.  The  average  total  enrollment  in  the  school 
year  1865-1866  was  13,975,  while  during  1866-1867  it  had  declined  to  13,005. 

45  J.  W.  Alvord,  General  Superintendent  of  Education  of  the  Bureau,  to  Mrs.  Dr.  [?] 
Brown,  March  11,  1867,  BRFAL,  Washington;  Brown  to  Howard,  March  25,   1867,  BRFAL. 

46  Manly,  report,  May  22,  1867,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30, 
1867,  BRFAL.  Sixty-three  existed  in  June;  Manly  to  Brown,  June  30,  1867,  BRFAL. 

47  Charles  A.  Raymond,  Inspector  of  Schools,  to  Manly,  July  20,  1866,  BRFAL;  Manly, 
report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1866,  BRFAL;  Lyman  Abbott,  General  Secretary, 
American  Freedmen's  Union  Commission,  to  Manly,  August  7,  1866,  BRFAL;  Hannah  E. 
Stevenson,  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  to  Manly,  August  18,  1866,  BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  73 

benevolent  organizations  would  withdraw  their  support,  he  be- 
lieved that  no  measure  was  of  "more  present  importance  than 
the  establishment  of  one  good  training  school  for  teachers  in 
each  of  the  larger  cities.,,43 

The  schools  began  to  reopen  in  September,  1866,  and  by 
December  192  schools  were  in  operation,  a  new  record.  Although 
the  total  enrollment  for  the  period  from  October,  1866,  to  June, 
1867,  was  lower  than  during  the  previous  year  the  average  daily 
attendance  was  higher.  The  schools  had  shown  great  improve- 
ment, Manly  reported.  Approximately  8,000  students  had  learned 
the  alphabet  and  passed  through  the  primer  by  June,  1867.  About 
10,000  were  now  studying  geography,  arithmetic,  reading,  and 
writing,  and  some  had  advanced  to  the  study  of  United  States 
history,  grammar,  physiology,  algebra,  and  Latin!44  Although 
the  Bureau  now  could  construct  as  well  as  rent  and  repair  school- 
houses,  applications  for  assistance  far  outran  the  ability  of  the 
benevolent  organizations  to  supply  teachers.45  Consequently 
many  private  schools  were  established  in  the  state,  particularly 
in  rural  districts.  Manly  considered  these  rural  schools  only 
better  than  none  at  all  and  the  city  schools  "worse  than  none" 
because  of  the  inadequate  education  of  the  teachers,  most  of 
whom  were  freedmen.46 

The  importance  of  establishing  teacher-training  institutions 
was  clearly  recognized  by  the  Bureau  and  the  benevolent  organi- 
zations.47 The  hiring  of  Negro  teachers  would  permit  the  pene- 
tration of  freedmen's  schools  into  localities  where  white  teachers 
were  unable  to  obtain  board,  provide  schools  under  qualified 
teachers  to  replace  the  inadequate  private  schools,  and  provide 
a  nucleus  of  teachers  to  instruct  freedmen  when  the  Bureau  and 
the  benevolent  organizations  withdrew  from  the  state.  Progress 
in  this  direction  was  slow  but  by  June  Manly  reported  that  he 
was  preparing  to  establish  high  schools,  each  with  a  normal  de- 


74  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

partment,  in  Richmond,  Petersburg,  Norfolk,  Hampton,  Alex- 
andria, and  Danville.48 

The  attitude  of  whites  of  the  state  toward  Negro  education 
seems  to  have  improved  during  the  school  year  1866-1867.  "A 
better  state  of  public  feeling  toward  the  schools,  prevails,"  Manly 
reported,  "and  the  improvement  is  believed  to  be  permanent  and 
reliable.  This  is  conclusively  indicated  by  the  fact,  that  many 
white  citizens  of  Virginia,  both  male  and  female,  have  recently 
sought  positions  as  teachers  of  freedmen  under  the  Bureau."  It 
was  "almost  universally  conceded  among  intelligent  citizens" 
that  it  was  necessary  to  educate  the  Negro  in  view  of  his  new  re- 
lation to  the  state.  Some  planters  were  building  schoolhouses  for 
them  and  "some  ladies  of  refinement"  were  "giving  them  gra- 
tuitous lessons."  Newspapers  of  the  state  were  generally  "sym- 
pathetic" toward  freedmen's  schools  and  not  only  treated  them 
with  a  "fair  measure  of  courtesy,"  but  "sometimes  offered  words 
of  commendation  and  encouragement."49  Social  ostracism  of 
teachers  and  refusal  to  board  them  or  rent  school  buildings  still 
prevailed,  but  these  actions  seem  to  have  reflected  opposition  to 
the  teachers  rather  than  opposition  to  Negro  education  per  se.m 

October,  1867,  ushered  in  one  of  the  most  significant  years  of 
Freedmen's  Bureau  activity  in  the  field  of  education  in  Virginia. 
The  number  of  schools,  teachers,  and  enrolled  pupils  reached  new 
highs  of  269,  353,  and  16,403,  respectively,  and  the  average 
monthly  cost  of  freedmen's  education  was  greatly  increased. 
Benevolent  organizations  again  bore  the  bulk  of  the  expense  of 
maintaining  the  freedmen's  schools.  Out  of  a  total  cost  for  the 
year  of  $132,399,  charity  supplied  $78,766  and  the  Bureau 
$42,844.  The  freedmen  contributed  $10,789  and,  in  May,  wholly 
sustained  seventy-two  schools.  The  teachers,  many  of  whom  were 
Negroes  who  had  progressed  far  enough  in  their  own  education 
to  enable  them  to  teach  other  members  of  their  race,  were,  said 
Manly,  more  experienced  and  more  carefully  selected.  Better 


48  James  M.  Stradling  to  Manly,  June  18,  1867,  BRFAL;  Manly  to  Brown,  June  30,  1867, 
BRFAL;  Manly,   report  for  the  six  months  ending  June   30,   1867,   BRFAL. 

4n  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1867,  BRFAL;  Report  of  Operations, 
April,   1867,   Brown  to  Howard,   BRFAL. 

50  Letter  of  Anna  Gardner,  Charlottesville,  October  1,  1866,  in  Freedmen' s  Record,  II 
(November,  1866),  201;  letter  of  John  W.  Pratt,  Orange  Court  House,  January  2,  1867,  in 
Freedmen's  Record,  III  (February,  1867),  26;  letter  signed  P.  C.  [Philena  Carkin?],  Char- 
lottesville, February  9,  1867,  in  Freedmen's  Record,  III  (March,  1867),  43;  letter  of  G.  H. 
Morse,  Warrenton,  January  28,  1867,  in  Freedmen's  Record,  III  (March,  1867),  38;  John  W. 
Pratt,  Orange  Court  House,  to  Manly,  October  29,  1866,  BRFAL;  Benjamin  P.  Chute, 
Superintendent   of   Schools,   7th   District,   to   Manly,   November   14,    1866,    BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  75 

school  buildings  were  available,  including  many  new  ones,  al- 
though almost  one-half  were  without  desks  and  many,  especially 
those  owned  by  the  freedmen,  were  cheap  log  structures.  At- 
tendance was  "more  uniform  and  classification  and  grading  of 
the  Schools  more  complete."51 

The  desire  of  freedmen  to  acquire  an  education  continued  un- 
abated. The  total  capacity  of  all  school  buildings  in  April,  1868, 
was  15,060,  and  not  only  were  they  entirely  filled  but  10,000 
primers  were  distributed  by  the  Bureau  in  those  areas  where 
schools  were  not  available.  Manly  noted  many  cases  of  "remark- 
able sacrifice  to  secure  the  benefit  of  the  Schools,"  students  often 
walking  long  distances  in  all  but  the  foulest  weather  to  reach 
the  schoolhouse.  He  had  been  greatly  impressed  by  the  examina- 
tions he  had  been  able  to  hear,  and  believed  that  not  less  than 
50,000  freedmen  had  learned  to  read.  "Christian  charity  and 
Government  Aid,"  he  wrote,  had  never  been  "more  wisely  or 
profitably  expended"  than  in  this  educational  work.52 

Although  353  teachers  were  in  the  field  by  April,  1868,  the 
demand  for  them  far  outreached  the  supply.  Manly  estimated 
that  2,000  teachers  would  be  required  to  provide  sufficient  edu- 
cational facilities  for  instruction  of  children  in  rural  areas,  and 
three-fourths  of  these  would  have  to  be  Negroes  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  procuring  board  and  lodgings  for  white  teachers  and 
because  of  limitations  on  the  financial  support  from  the  Bureau 
and  benevolent  organizations.  The  critical  need  for  teachers' 
training  schools  for  Negroes  was  partially  met  during  the  school 
year  1867-1868  by  the  founding  of  Richmond  Normal  and  High 
School  and  Hampton  Institute.  The  former  opened  in  October, 
1867,  with  two  teachers  and  sixty-five  pupils,  and  was  described 
by  Manly  as 

well  constructed,  well  provided  with  the  best  modern  school 
furniture,  and  supplied  with  all  necessary  educational  appli- 
ances— philosophical  apparatus,  maps,  charts,  globes,  books  of 
reference,  [and]  a  new  and  well  selected  miscellaneous  library, 
with  some  historical  pictures  and  other  works  of  art  to  add  to  the 
attractiveness  of  the  rooms. 


51  Educational  Division  Synopsis  of  School  Reports,  November,  1867,  to  June,  1868, 
BRFAL;  State  Superintendent's  Monthly  School  Reports,  1866-1868,  BRFAL;  Reports  of 
Operations,  1866-1868,  Assistant  Commissioners  to  Howard,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report,  April  15, 
1868,   BRFAL. 

52  Manly,  report,  April  15,  1868,  BRFAL;  Educational  Division  Synopsis,  November,  1867, 
to  June,  1868,  BRFAL. 


76  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  methods  of  instruction  and  course  of  study  were  those  "com- 
mon to  the  best  Normal  Schools.' '  Manly  believed  that  this  school 
was  extremely  useful  not  only  for  "instruction  and  discipline"  of 
its  pupils,  but  also  "for  its  effect  upon  the  community,  in  elevat- 
ing the  aspirations  of  the  colored  youth  of  the  city,  and  in  con- 
quering some  prejudices  among  the  white  citizens."53 

The  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute  at  Hampton  went  into 
operation  on  April  1,  1868,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American 
Missionary  Association.  Its  purposes,  as  stated  by  its  founder, 
Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  a  Sub-Assistant-Commissioner  of 
the  Bureau,  were 

to  train  selected  Negro  youths  who  should  go  out  and  teach  and 
lead  their  people,  first  by  example,  by  getting  land  and  homes; 
to  give  them  not  a  dollar  that  they  could  earn  for  themselves; 
to  teach  respect  for  labor,  to  replace  stupid  drudgery  with 
skilled  hands,  and  to  those  ends  to  build  up  an  industrial  system 
for  the  sake  not  only  of  self-support  and  intelligent  labor,  but 
also  for  the  sake  of  character. 

Under  Armstrong's  plan,  the  students  studied  four  days  per 
week,  and  worked  two  days  for  the  school  at  a  rate  of  eight  cents 
per  hour.  The  pay  for  their  labor  was  credited  toward  their 
books,  while  the  tuition  of  seventy  dollars  per  year  was  borne  by 
the  school.  By  removing  the  pupils  from  "their  old  world  of 
semi-heathenism"  and  making  each  a  "responsible  member  of  a 
well  ordered  Christian  home,"  Manly  felt  that  it  would  train 
them  in  better  habits  and  more  refined  tastes,  and  would  make 
them  better  citizens.54  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  long  active  in 
southern  education,  felt  that  Armstrong,  because  of  this  school, 
stood  "next  to  Lincoln  in  effective  work  for  the  negro."  His  work, 
said  Hayes,  "hits  the  nail  on  the  head.  It  solves  the  whole  negro 
problem."55 

In  describing  the  attitude  of  Virginia's  citizens  toward  freed- 
men's  schools  in  March,  1868,  Manly  wrote :  "To  the  whites  the 
Schools  are  medicine,  to  the  blacks  a  cordial."56  The  improvement 


53  Educational  Division  Synopsis,  November,  1867,  to  June,  1868,  BRFAL;  Manly,  Secretary, 
Richmond  Educational  Association,  to  J.  W.  Alvord,  General  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  the 
Bureau,   July   22,    1869,    BRFAL. 

5i  Edith  Armstrong  Talbot,  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  A  Biographical  Study  (New 
York,  1904),  157,  167;  Educational  Division  Synopsis,  November,  1867,  to  June,  1868,  BRFAL. 

55  Hayes  to  E.  E.  Hale,  January  5,  1892,  in  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes,  Diary  and  Letters 
of  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes,  ed.  by  Charles  R.  Williams  (5  vols.  Ohio  State  Archaeological 
and   Historical   Society,    1926),   V,   46-47. 

r,°  State  Superintendent's  Monthly  School  Report,  March,   1868,   BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  77 

in  public  opinion  toward  Negro  education  during  the  previous 
school  year  had  been  more  than  counteracted  by  the  political 
campaign  of  the  summer  and  autumn  months  of  1867  to  elect 
delegates  to  a  constitutional  convention,  in  compliance  with  the 
reconstruction  acts  of  March  2  and  23,  1867,  and  the  meeting  of 
the  convention  itself  from  December  3,  1867,  to  April  17,  1868. 
This  convention  inserted  into  the  proposed  constitution  an  able 
provision  for  a  system  of  free  public  schools ;  and  a  vigorous  but 
unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  educate  whites  and  Negroes 
together  in  the  same  schools.  Civil  equality  was  guaranteed  to 
both  races.  Men  who  had  taken  oaths  as  congressmen,  officers  of 
the  United  States,  members  of  any  state  legislature,  or  executive 
or  judicial  officers  of  any  state  and  had  engaged  in  the  rebellion 
or  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy  were  disfranchised,  and 
all  persons  before  entering  upon  office  were  required  to  take 
the  "iron-clad"  oath.57 

In  light  of  the  revolutionary  and  discriminatory  provisions 
of  the  proposed  constitution  it  is  not  surprising  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  white  population  were,  as  Manly  put  it,  "thoroughly  or- 
ganized, politically,  against  Negro  suffrage  and  political  equal- 
ity," and  that  this  same  movement  tended  "strongly  against  all 
attempts  to  improve  and  elevate  the  freedmen."58  Opposition  to 
freedmen's  schools  increased  noticeably,  probably  because  of  the 
activities  of  many  teachers  who,  while  motivated  by  religious  and 
humanitarian  enthusiasm  to  educate  the  Negro,  felt  that  their 
instruction  should  teach  the  Negro  "to  recognize  his  friends,  to 
support  with  his  ballot  the  party  of  his  friends,  and  to  assume 
his  place  as  the  social  and  political  equal  of  the  Southern  white 
man."59  Since  the  ballot  and  spelling  book  "must  go  hand  in 
hand,"60  retaliation  was  inevitable.  Some  whites,  apparently 
realizing  the  political  influence  of  freedmen's  schools,  undertook 
to  provide  education  for  their  laborers.  Others  caused  schools  to 
be  ejected  from  buildings  in  which  they  had  been  meeting. 
Retaliation  of  a  more  violent  nature  manifested  itself  in  Ku 
Klux  Klan  activity  and  other  outrages.  While  the  Klan  seems 


57  For  a  discussion  of  this  campaign  and  convention  see  Hamilton  J.  Eckenrode,  The 
Political  History  of  Virginia  During  the  Reconstruction,  Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies 
in  Historical  and  Political  Science,  Series  XXII,  nos.  6-7-8    (Baltimore,   1904),   chs.  V,   VI. 

58  Manly  to  Brown,   February  20,   1868,   BRFAL. 

59  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  82-83;  see  also  George  E.  Stephens,  a  Union 
League  canvasser,  to  Manly,  October  24,   1867,   BRFAL. 

60  Speech  of  J.  M.  McKim,  Corresponding  Secretary,  Northwest  Branch  American  Freed- 
men's Union  Commission,  in  American  Freedman,  I   (March,  1867),  181. 


78  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

primarily  to  have  been  interested  in  coercing  the  Negro  with 
respect  to  suffrage,  several  schoolhouses  were  broken  into  and 
several  teachers  were  assaulted.61 

Manly  saw  the  solution  to  the  problem  when,  in  April,  1868,  he 
wrote:  "With  both  classes  [aristocracy  and  poor  whites]  move- 
ments for  the  education  of  the  blacks  would  be  received  with 
comparent  [?]  complacency  if  Southern  white  teachers, — the 
Widows,  Wives  and  Daughters  of  confederate  [sic]  soldiers,  were 
exclusively  employed."  Even  had  Manly  desired  exclusively  to 
employ  native  Virginians  as  teachers  he  probably  could  not  have 
done  so.  The  state  was  unable  to  supply  funds  for  teachers' 
wages  and  was  not  expected  to  be  able  to  do  so  until  at  least 
1869.62  It  is  improbable  that  the  Bureau,  controlled  as  it  was  by 
the  Radical  Congress,  would  have  consented  to  such  a  policy, 
even  if  it  had  possessed  the  necessary  funds,  since  the  present 
teachers  were  an  invaluable  force  for  organizing  the  Negro 
vote  in  favor  of  the  party  in  power.63  Furthermore,  Manly  was 
largely  dependent  upon  northern  benevolent  organizations  for 
financial  support  of  his  school  system,  and  it  is  highly  improb- 
able that  these  organizations,  many  of  which  had  been  founded 
in  the  interests  of  abolition  and  had  fought  first  the  southern 
"slaveocracy"  and  then  the  southern  "rebels,"  would  have  con- 
sented to  furnishing  financial  support  for  southern  teachers  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  Yankee  "school-marms." 

One  apparent  solution  of  the  problem  of  antipathy  toward 
freedmen's  education  was  a  state  public  school  system  for  both 
whites  and  Negroes,  such  as  that  provided  for  in  the  proposed 
constitution.  That  constitution  had  not  yet  been  adopted,  but  the 
Bureau  sought,  by  its  work  in  individual  cities,  to  facilitate  the 
establishment  of  the  proposed  state  system.  It  made  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  to  organize  a  public  school  system  in  Richmond, 
and  in  other  cities  it  attempted  to  set  up  such  a  systematic  or- 


61  American  Missionary,  XI  (November,  1867),  245;  Matthew  W.  Jackson,  Charlotte  Court 
House,  to  [Manly?],  October  26,  1867,  BRFAL;  James  Johnson,  Fredericksburg,  to  Terry, 
August  8,  1866,  BRFAL;  Sanford  M.  Dodge  to  Howard,  December  10,  1867,  BRFAL;  Edgar 
Allan  to  Howard,  December  10,  1867,  BRFAL;  S.  P.  Lee,  Alexandria,  to  Brown,  April  10,  1868, 
BRFAL;  Charles  W.  McMahon,  Appomattox  Court  House,  to  Captain  J.  F.  Wilson,  April  30, 
and  May  4,  1868,  BRFAL;  Report  of  Operations,  April,  1868,  Brown  to  Howard,  BRFAL; 
Report  of  Outrages,  Warrenton,  April,  1868,  BRFAL;  J.  N.  Murdock,  Willville,  to  Manly, 
January  14,'  1867,  BRFAL.  The  latter  appears  to  be  incorrectly  dated,  and  should  read 
January   14,    1868. 

62  Manly,  report,  April  15,   1868,  BRFAL. 

63  See  Richard  L.  Morton,  The  Negro  in  Virginia  Politics,  1865-1902,  Publications  of  the 
University  of  Virginia,  Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  Papers,  Number  Four  (Charlottesville, 
1919),    31,   for   an    opinion    on   the   political   character   of   the    Bureau. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  79 

ganization  of  schools  as  could,  with  little  change,  be  taken  over 
by  state  and  municipal  authorities  when  they  became  sufficiently 
able  to  assume  such  responsibility.  This  was  most  satisfactorily 
accomplished  in  Alexandria,  Norfolk,  Hampton,  Petersburg, 
and  Richmond,  each  of  which  contained  primary,  intermediate, 
and  high  or  normal  schools.64 

With  a  presidential  election  in  the  fall  and  the  election  on  the 
proposed  constitution  tentatively  scheduled  for  August,  though 
subsequently  postponed,  the  summer  and  autumn  months  of 
1868  witnessed  intensive  campaigning.65  A  number  of  Negro 
schools  and  teachers  of  freedmen  felt  the  wrath  of  the  aroused 
tempers  of  the  whites.  Several  schools  were  burned  and  a  teach- 
er at  Bacon's  Castle  not  only  was  beaten  "unmercifully"  by  four 
whites  but  his  house  was  burned.66  It  seems  probable  that  this 
violence  was  occasioned  by  the  political  activity  of  teachers, 
many  of  whom  were  supported  by  various  benevolent  organiza- 
tions which  expressed  their  approval  of  and  desire  for  the 
political  education  of  the  Negro.67  Miss  Anna  Gardner,  in  Char- 
lottesville, readily  admitted  the  dual  purpose  of  her  teaching. 
James  C.  Southall,  editor  of  the  Charlottesville  Chronicle,  wrote 
her:  "The  idea  prevails,  that  you  instruct  them  [the  students] 
in  politics  and  sociology ;  that  you  come  among  us  not  merely  as 
an  ordinary  school  teacher,  but  as  a  political  missionary;  that 
you  communicate  to  the  colored  people  ideas  of  social  equality 
with  the  whites."  Miss  Gardner  replied,  "I  teach  in  school  and 
out,  so  far  as  my  influence  extends,  the  fundamental  principles 
of  'Politics'  and  'sociology'  viz: — 'Whatsoever  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  you  even  so  unto  them.'  Yours  in  behalf 
of  truth  and  justice."68  The  constitution  with  its  drastic  dis- 
franchisement and  "test-oath"  clauses  naturally  was  repugnant 
to  most  whites.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  efforts  to 
prevent  its  ratification  would  include  attempts  to  intimidate  such 
people  as  Miss  Gardner  who  were  influencing  the  tractable 
Negroes  to  vote  for  it. 


64  Brown  to  Howard,  June  18,  1868,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending 
June  30,  1869,  BRFAL;  Educational  Division  Synopsis,  November,  1867,  to  June,  1868, 
BRFAL. 

65Eckenrode,  Virginia  During  the  Reconstruction,  106-109.  The  election  on  the  adoption 
of  the  constitution  was  postponed  until  July  6,  1869;  Eckenrode,  Virginia  During  the  Recon- 
struction,  125. 

66  Report  of  Outrages,  Bacon's  Castle,  October,  1868,  P.  H.  McLaughlin  to  Brown,  BRFAL; 
William  P.  Austin,  Wytheville,  to  Brown,  July  22,  1868,  BRFAL;  Brown  to  P.  H.  McLaughlin, 
December   7,   1868.   BRFAL. 

67  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  82-85. 

68  Swint,  The  Northern  Teacher  in  the  South,  82-85;  see  also  chapter  IV,  passim. 


80  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

During  the  new  school  year  the  benevolent  organizations  ex- 
tended their  policy,  begun  during  the  previous  year,  of  requiring 
freedmen  to  aid  in  supporting  their  schools.  In  many  places  they 
required  the  Negroes  to  contribute  ten  to  fifty  cents  per  month 
which,  though  not  always  willingly  paid,  tended  to  "eliminate 
the  worthless  material,  to  improve  the  average  attendance  and 
punctuality,  to  increase  the  interest  both  of  pupil  and  parent, 
and  to  develop  in  them  a  legitimate  feeling  of  self-respect,  in 
place  of  the  debasing  sense  of  entire  dependence.' '  Full  charity, 
in  Manly's  opinion,  was  "a  false  pernicious  lesson,  which,  must 
some  day,  be  most  painfully  unlearned."69 

Many  rural  schools  drew  all  or  most  of  their  financial  support 
from  freedmen  alone.  By  June,  1869,  the  freedmen  owned  121 
schools,  an  increase  of  fifty  oyer  the  previous  year ;  and  they  were 
contributing  $19,000  toward  support  of  the  school  system.  The 
Peabody  Fund  also  supplied  needed  assistance,  furnishing  $4,000 
during  the  school  year  1868-1869.  This  was  disbursed  to  seventy 
schools  not  otherwise  adequately  provided  for,  to  supplement 
what  the  freedmen  were  doing  themselves.  The  Bureau  and 
northern  benevolent  organizations,  of  course,  continued  to  pro- 
vide most  of  the  support  for  the  schools.70 

With  freedmen  assuming  a  greater  share  of  the  expense  of  the 
school  system,  it  was  possible  to  divert  some  funds  of  benevolent 
organizations  into  the  establishment  of  new  schools  in  rural 
areas.  In  December,  1868,  Manly  reported  that  at  the  present 
rate  of  progress  schools  soon  would  be  in  operation  in  nearly 
every  county  of  the  state.  Much  of  this  expansion  into  rural  dis- 
tricts was  due  to  the  diffusion  of  Negro  teachers  "fresh  from 
the  schools"  into  these  areas.  Though  they  lacked  experience,  this 
hindrance  was  more  than  offset  by  the  "wonderful  zeal  of  the 
people  and  the  pupils."  Each  school  gathered  "the  brightest 
children  from  a  territory  equal  to  two  or  three  New  England 
townships,"  many  children  setting  out  from  home  without  break- 
fast on  their  long  journey  to  school.71 


09  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,   1868,   BRFAL. 

70  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1868,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for 
the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1869,  BRFAL.  The  Peabody  Fund  was  established  by  a  gift 
of  $2,000,000  made  by  George  Peabody  for  the  "promotion  and  encouragement  of 
intellectual,  moral,  or  industrial  education  among  the  young  of  the  more  destitute  portions 
of  the  South."  It  was  distributed  among  these  schools  by  giving  the  teacher  twenty-five  cents 
per  month  for  each  pupil  of  average  attendance;  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending 
December  31,  1868,  BRFAL. 

71  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1868,  BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  81 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau,  with  the  exception  of  its  offices  for 
payment  of  bounties  and  pensions,  and  its  educational  depart- 
ment, which  was  to  continue  in  operation  until  the  state  made 
"suitable  provision  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  freed- 
men," was  withdrawn  from  the  state  on  January  1,  1869.72  This 
action  seems  to  have  had  little  effect  upon  the  educational  de- 
partment except  for  an  administrative  reorganization.  General 
Brown  replaced  Manly  as  Superintendent  of  Education  but  was 
mustered  out  on  April  30,  1869,  and  Manly  resumed  his  position. 
The  state  was  divided  into  Educational  Sub-Districts  but  these 
too  were  soon  discontinued.  The  only  permanent  change  of  any 
consequence  was  that  teachers,  instead  of  sending  their  reports 
to  local  agents,  now  sent  them  direct  to  Manly.73 

Despite  the  diminished  resources  of  the  benevolent  organi- 
zations the  aggregate  number  of  schools,  teachers,  and  pupils, 
and  the  average  daily  attendance  in  the  school  year  1868-1869 
reached  new  highs.  The  year  showed  an  increase  of  sixty  schools, 
forty-seven  teachers,  and  six  hundred  pupils.  A  still  more 
gratifying  fact  was  the  increase  in  average  attendance,  which 
was  80  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment,  as  compared  to  72  per 
cent  during  the  previous  year.  Manly  attributed  these  increases 
to  "a  true  professional  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  teachers,"  a  "lively 
interest"  and  growing  "spirit  of  self-help  among  the  freedmen," 
and  increased  financial  assistance  from  the  Bureau.  During  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1869,  benevolent  organizations  had  supplied 
approximately  $60,000  as  compared  to  $78,766  during  the  pre- 
vious year.  The  freedmen,  however,  had  contributed  $19,000,  an 
increase  of  more  than  $8,000  over  1867-1868,  while  the  Bureau 
appropriation  had  increased  by  nearly  the  same  amount  to  $50,- 
000.  With  the  addition  of  $4,000  from  the  Peabody  Fund  and 
$2,200  from  miscellaneous  sources,  the  total  amount  spent 
annually  on  f reedmen's  education  in  Virginia  had  increased  from 
$132,399  to  approximately  $135,200.74 


72  Special  Order  165,  December  30,  1868,  BRFAL;  see  also  Circular  6,  July  17,  1868,  BRFAL, 
Washington;  Circular  10,  November  17,  1868,  BRFAL,  Washington;  Act  of  July  6,  1868,  in 
U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  XV,  Public  Laws  .  .  .  Second  Session  of  the  Fortieth  Congress, 
1867-1868,  83. 

73  War  Department  to  Brown,  April  1,  1869,  BRFAL,  Washington;  Manly  to  Howard, 
May  1,  1869,  BRFAL:  Circular  33,  December  30,  1868,  BRFAL;  Circular  1,  January  1,  1869, 
BRFAL;  Circular  2,  March  9,  1869,  BRFAL;  Circular  3,  March  19,  1868,  BRFAL.  The  latter 
is  incorrectly  dated  and  should  have  read  March   19,   1869. 

74  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1869,  BRFAL;  Educational  Division 
Synopsis,  November,  1867,  to  June,  1868,  BRFAL. 


82  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Many  local  school  systems  received  special  praise  from  Manly. 
In  Richmond  the  schools  were  of  "unusual  excellence,"  the  best 
teachers  of  former  years  having  been  retained,  and  the  less 
successful  replaced  by  "those  of  better  skill  or  greater  devotion." 
As  a  result,  these  schools  secured  "unqualified  public  approval," 
according  to  Manly.  "The  opposition  which  formerly  existed,  and 
which  found  expression  in  violence  to  the  school  houses,  insults 
to  the  teachers,  and  ribald  jests  in  the  News  paper  press,"  had, 
said  the  Superintendent,  "entirely  disappeared."  Because  of  their 
uniformly  high  character  the  schools  for  loyal  whites  conducted 
by  the  Soldiers  Memorial  Society  of  Boston  had  also  done  much 
to  reconcile  the  people  of  Richmond  to  the  introduction  of  the 
public  school  system.  The  schools  at  Lynchburg,  Hampton,  Dan- 
ville, Charlottesville,  and  Alexandria,  each  of  which  had  normal 
schools,  were  also  very  successful,  their  normal  schools  being 
especially  valuable  as  a  source  for  future  teachers.75 

Although  the  people  of  Richmond  gave  "unqualified  public  ap- 
proval" to  the  public  schools,  the  people  of  the  state  apparently 
were  not  as  enthusiastic.  Obstacles  to  the  education  of  f reedmen 
were  "undoubtedly  diminishing"  but  Manly  felt  that  there  was 
not  another  southern  state  in  which  the  ruling  class  had  such  a 
poor  opinion,  "not  only  of  public  free  schools  as  a  means  of  edu- 
cation, but  of  education  itself,  for  the  masses."  To  support  this 
opinion  he  quoted  a  "learned  Virginia  Judge"  as  saying:  "You 
Northern  people  have  gone  as  mad  as  'March  hares'  on  the  sub- 
ject of  education.  What  does  the  laboring  class  want  of  knowl- 
edge? Give  them  meal  and  bacon  to  make  more  muscle,  and,  we'll 
direct  the  muscle."76  Despite  this  attitude  on  the  part  of  some 
individuals,  a  considerable  number  of  native  whites,  "generally 
women  in  reduced  circumstances,  or  broken  down  School  Mas- 
ters," opened  schools  for  freedmen.  Most,  said  Manly,  were 
forced  to  humble  themselves  to  earn  the  bare  necessities  of  life 
and  though,  as  teachers,  they  were  not  the  best,  they  were  better 
than  none.77 

The  constitution  which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  state  con- 
vention in  1868  was  finally  submitted  to  a  vote  on  July  6,  1869, 
with  a  provision  for  a  separate  vote  on  the  disfranchisement  and 


75  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,   1869,   BRFAL. 

76  Manly,   report  for  the  six   months   ending   June   30,    1869,   BRFAL. 

77  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,   1869,   BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  83 

"test-oath"  clauses.  These  two  clauses  were  defeated  and  the 
constitution  with  its  provision  for  a  system  of  free  public  schools 
was  adopted.78  This  was  a  source  of  great  personal  satisfaction 
to  Manly  who  long  had  advocated  free  public  schools  and  had 
sought  to  organize  the  Bureau  schools  in  such  a  way  that  they 
easily  could  become  part  of  the  system.  "The  new  Constitution," 
he  wrote, 

with  its  public  free  school  system  which  has  been  standing  on 
the  table  of  the  sick  man  for  fifteen  months, — a  nauseous  but 
wholesome  draught — has  just  been  swallowed,  not  willingly,  it 
is  true,  but  angrily  and  ruefully.  The  patient's  dislike  for  the 
medecine  [sic']  and  hate  for  the  doctor  that  compounded  it,  may 
retard  and  somewhat  modify  the  effect  of  the  dose,  but  cannot 
destroy  it. — Ample  provision  is  made  in  that  instrument  for  the 
gradual  introduction  and  permanent  support  of  a  comprehensive 
system  of  public  free  schools.  The  wealthy  and  aristocratic  will 
oppose  and  retard  the  movement,  but  it  will  certainly  go  forward 
until  the  free  school  shall  be  as  common,  as  excellent,  and  as 
honored,  as  before  the  war,  it  was  scarce  and  contemptible.79 

Evidence  was  already  available  to  indicate  a  future  support 
of  the  public  school  system,  particularly  in  the  cities.  Petersburg 
had  finished  its  first  year  of  trial  of  the  system,  and  the  city, 
in  Manly's  opinion,  was  "happy  with  the  success  of  the  experi- 
ment." Its  teachers,  most  of  whom  were  native  Virginians,  had 
taught  an  enrollment  of  over  2,000  children,  of  whom  more  than 
half  were  Negroes.  Norfolk,  which  for  some  years  had  sustained 
public  schools  for  white  children,  now  made  an  appropriation  to 
the  American  Missionary  Association  to  assist  in  the  support  of 
Negro  schools.  Winchester  had  pledged  itself  to  the  support  of 
"public  schools  for  all."  Richmond,  in  which  an  attempt  to  estab- 
lish free  schools  had  failed  during  the  previous  year,  had  just 
passed  an  ordinance  providing  for  such  a  system,  appropriated 
money  for  its  support,  and  selected  a  Board  of  Education  whose 
members,  Manly  believed,  would  "exert  themselves  to  make  it  a 
success."  This  board,  in  co-operation  with  the  Bureau,  the  chari- 
table organizations,  and  the  Peabody  Fund,  was  expected  to 
provide  for  5,000  pupils  during  the  first  year,  at  a  total  expense 
to  all  parties  of  $50,000  to  $60,000.  "For  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  this  city,"  wrote  Manly,  "the  poor  children  as  well  as 


78  Eckenrode,  Virginia  During  the  Reconstruction,  125. 

79  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,   1869,   BRFAL. 


84  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  rich,  regardless  of  past  history  or  present  condition,  will 
freely  enjoy  the  blessing  of  good  schools."  The  future  of  educa- 
tion in  Virginia,  he  wrote,  "has  never  looked  so  hopeful  for  poor 

and  ignorant  of  both  races  as  at  the  present  time."80 

During  the  summer  recess  of  1869  efforts  were  made  to  adjust 

school  schedules  so  that  rural  Negroes  might  obtain  greater  bene- 
fits. The  spring  and  autumn  months  being  the  busiest  for  agri- 
cultural workers,  and  the  summer  and  winter  months  being 
seasons  of  comparative  leisure,  Manly  decided  to  continue  in 
operation  a  large  number  of  rural  schools  during  the  summer, 
not  only  to  provide  desired  educational  facilities  but  to  lessen  the 
patronage  of  inadequate  and  "harmful"  private  schools.  As  a 
result  the  number  of  teachers  and  pupils  was  twice  that  of  any 
corresponding  period,  despite  diminished  aid  from  the  societies 
and  a  blight  of  the  crops.  The  main  contributory  causes  for  the 
increase,  as  Manly  saw  them,  were  the  "widening  and  deepening 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  have  schools"  and  the  "rigid 
and  consistent  application,  both  to  societies  and  local  school  trus- 
tees, of  the  [Bureau]  rule  not  to  furnish  rent  .  .  .  unless  an 
average  daily  attendance  of  thirty  pupils  was  secured."  The 
latter  rule  not  only  prevented  waste  of  public  funds,  but  increased 
daily  attendance  and  "improved  the  tone  of  the  schools."81 

The  school  building  program  continued  at  a  rapid  rate.  During 
the  academic  year  1869-1870  thirty-two  schoolhouses  were  con- 
structed, at  an  average  cost  of  $409,  of  which  the  Bureau  fur- 
nished $182.50  and  freedmen  the  rest.  Two  new  buildings  were 
constructed  at  Hampton  Institute  and  at  Richmond  High  and 
Normal  School,  the  former  at  a  cost  of  $40,000  and  the  latter  at 
$18,000,  part  of  which  was  paid  by  the  Bureau  and  part  by 
charity.  Manly,  who  envisioned  even  more  schools,  wrote  Howard 
suggesting  that  the  Bureau,  by  pursuing  a  policy  of  "helping 
those  who  help  themselves,"  could  supply  facilities  for  needed 
schools  at  a  maximum  cost  to  the  government  of  $200  each.  His 
suggestion  was  not  acted  upon,  however,  because  of  the  impend- 
ing withdrawal  of  the  Bureau  from  the  state.82 


80  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1869,  BRFAL;  see  also  Manly,  report  for 
the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1868,  BRFAL. 

81  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1860,  BRFAL. 

82  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1869,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for 
the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1870,  including  a  summary  for  the  five  years  ending  June  30, 
1870,    BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  85 

The  diminished  assistance  afforded  the  schools  by  charitable 
organizations  during  1869-1870  threw  a  greater  burden  upon 
the  people.  Even  in  a  normal  year,  this  burden  would  have  been 
difficult  to  shoulder,  but  the  difficulty  was  even  greater  that  year 
because  of  a  drought  and  short  crops  during  the  previous  sum- 
mer, facts  which  Manly  felt  were  not  properly  understood  by 
societies  and  people  at  a  distance.  There  was  not  enough  food  to 
eat,  and  nothing  to  sell.  Manly  wrote : 

For  a  people  thus  situated  to  board  their  teachers  and  help  build 
and  repair  their  school  houses,  is  to  bear  a  vastly  heavier  burden 
than  any  community  in  a  similar  condition  of  poverty  in  any 
Northern  State  is  required  to  bear.  The  fact  that  they  are  bear- 
ing this  burden,  is  much  to  their  credit  and  should  command  both 
admiration  and  pity.83 

The  ratification  of  the  state  constitution  and  the  impending 
readmission  of  Virginia  to  representation  in  Congress  seem  to 
have  stabilized  internal  conditions  in  the  state.  With  education 
no  longer  connected  with  disfranchisement,  and  with  the  con- 
servatives victorious  over  the  radicals,  hostility  to  Negro  educa- 
tion and  public  schools  died  down.  Violence  had  almost  disap- 
peared, Manly  reported,  and  the  belief  of  the  whites  that  Negroes 
could  not  learn  was  entirely  gone.  Objection  to  white  Virginians 
teaching  in  freedmen's  schools  was  slowly  going,  and  he  noted  a 
gradual  diminishing  of  prejudice  against  northern  teachers.  On 
one  point,  however,  the  whites  remained  adamant.  The  feeling 
against  mixed  schools,  Manly  wrote,  was  as  "solid  as  tl  ,e  primi- 
tive rocks  of  the  Alleghanies."84 

Virginia  was  readmitted  to  statehood  on  January  26,  1870, 
and  on  the  following  day  General  Canby  "resigned  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  to  the  civil  authorities."85  Although  the  mili- 
tary withdrew  from  the  state  the  educational  department  of  the 
Bureau  remained  in  operation  until  the  end  of  the  school  year.86 
Manly  sought  to  prevent  the  discontinuance  of  freedmen's  schools 
by  urging  the  "pressing  necessity"  of  government  aid  and  the 
continued  co-operation  of  the  charitable  organizations,  until  such 
time  as  the  state  was  financially  able  to  assume  the  burden,  but 


83  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1869,  BRFAL. 

84  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31,  1869,  BRFAL. 

85  Eckenrode,  Virginia  During  the  Reconstruction,  127. 

86  J.   M.    Brown,    Acting    Assistant    Adjutant    General,    to    Manly,    July    11,    1870,    BRFAL, 
Washington,  ordered  the  discontinuance  of  the  Bureau  on  August  15,   1870. 


86  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

although  some  aid  was  forthcoming  it  was  not  enough.87  Con- 
sequently, when  the  Bureau  withdrew  many  freedmen's  schools 
were  forced  to  close  their  doors.  The  Negroes  vigorously  objected 
to  this  action,  charging  that  they  were  being  abandoned  by  the 
government;  that  the  government  had  emancipated  them  and 
given  them  the  franchise,  and  was  therefore  obligated  not  to 
leave  them  ignorant.  With  the  government  "gone  back  on  them" 
and  the  state  doing  nothing,  they  "turn  away  to  their  toil,"  said 
Manly,  "feeling  that  they  have  not  only  been  bereaved  but 
wronged."  The  Superintendent  sympathized  with  their  lot,  and 
protested  to  General  Howard  that  "not  less  than  ten  thousand 
colored  children"  who  had  attended  school  during  the  previous 
year  would  have  none  the  next;  furthermore,  an  equal  number 
who  were  anticipating  the  privilege,  now  were  to  have  it  denied 
them.  Manly  charged  that  the  Negroes  were  suffering  a  "grievous 
wrong"  for  which  they  were  not  responsible.  "It  is  evident,"  he 
wrote,  "that  there  is  not  on  earth  another  people  who  have  such 
pressing  need  of  the  benefit  of  good  schools."88 

Looking  back,  at  the  time  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Bureau 
from  Virginia,  Manly  was  justified  in  viewing  with  pride  the 
accomplishments  under  his  five  years  of  superintendency.  Be- 
tween the  commencement  of  Bureau  operations  in  Virginia,  in 
June,  1865,  and  June,  1870,  over  two  hundred  schoolhouses  had 
been  erected  and  it  was  claimed  that  50,000  young  Negroes  had 
been  taught  to  read  and  write.  The  number  of  pupils  enrolled  in 
the  freedmen's  schools  had  risen  from  an  average  of  about  10,- 
600  per  month  in  1865-1866  to  an  average  of  about  11,700  per 
month  in  1869-1870 ;  and  an  average  of  10,725  students  had  been 
under  instruction  each  month  over  the  five-year  period.  Average 
daily  attendance  had  increased  from  7,896  in  1865-1866  to  8,909 
in  1869-1870.  The  number  of  teachers  had  increased  from  225, 
the  largest  number  of  the  first  school  year,  to  429  in  February, 
1870 ;  the  report  of  145  schools  in  operation  during  March,  1866, 
was  dwarfed  by  the  346  functioning  in  February,  1870 ;  and  the 
high  of  17,589  students  enrolled  in  March,  1866,  was  surpassed 
by  the  18,138  students  in  February,  1870.  During  the  five-year 


87  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  December  31.  1869,  BRFAL;  J.  S.  Lowell, 
Secretary,  Committee  on  Teachers,  New  England  Branch  Freedmen's  Union  Commission,  to 
Manly,  April  26,  1870,  BRFAL;  A.  H.  Jones  [Pennsylvania  Freedmen's  Relief  Association?], 
to  Manly,  June  20,   1870,  BRFAL. 

88  Manly,   report   for  the  six   months  ending   June   30,    1870,   BRFAL. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  87 

period  a  total  of  $725,000  had  been  expended  for  education  of 
the  freedmen,  $375,000  of  which  had  come  from  charitable  or- 
ganizations, and  $300,000  from  the  Bureau.  The  freedmen  had 
contributed  $50,000,  not  including  the  schoolhouses  which  they 
had  constructed.89 

Enormous  strides  had  been  made  in  normal  school  education 
during  the  Bureau's  operations  in  the  state.  Between  1865  and 
1870  six  normal  schools  had  been  established.  Hampton  Institute, 
with  six  teachers  and  seventy-five  pupils,  had  acquired  122  acres 
and  nine  buildings,  valued  at  $100,000.  The  Richmond  Normal 
and  High  School,  in  operation  since  1867,  maintained  a  teaching 
staff  of  four  and  had  an  enrollment  of  one  hundred  pupils.  The 
recognized  head  of  the  Negro  school  system  in  Richmond,  it  had 
become  "a  decided  success."  The  Charlottesville  Normal  School 
had  four  teachers  and  forty  pupils  in  the  normal  department. 
Other  normal  schools  of  a  "less  permanent  character"  had  been 
founded  in  Alexandria  (ninety  pupils  and  three  teachers), 
Lynchburg  (thirty  pupils  and  one  teacher) ,  and  Danville  (forty 
pupils  and  one  teacher)  .90 

During  the  five-year  period  the  seed  of  the  idea  of  free  public 
schools  for  all  had  been  nurtured  by  Manly  and  others  until  it 
had  reached  the  budding  stage  with  the  new  constitution.  "The 
first  provisions  for  a  complete  system  of  public  education"  in 
Virginia  were  contained  in  this  constitution.91  Prior  to  the  war 
nine  counties  and  three  cities  had  operated,  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, a  system  of  district  free  schools  for  rich  and  poor  alike, 
but  Norfolk  County  was  the  only  one  which  had  possessed  such 
a  system  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.92  In  light  of  these  facts 
Manly  perhaps  was  justified  in  believing  that  the  success  of  the 


89  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1870,  BRFAL;  Manly,  report  for  the 
year  ending  October  31,  1866,  BRFAL.  W.  H.  Brown  in  The  Education  and  Economic 
Development  of  the  Negro  in  Virginia,  45,  quotes  Manly  as  writing  in  1880:  "I  have  always 
affirmed,  and  still  believe,  that  during  this  period  of  five  or  six  years  not  less  than  20,000 
[freedmen]  learned  to  read.  .  .  ."  Whether  Manly  previously  had  overestimated,  whether 
he  had  made  a  mistake  on  this  report,  or  whether  he  was  incorrectly  quoted,  is  a  matter  of 
conjecture. 

In  computing  the  average  daily  attendance  for  1865-1866  I  have,  because  of  a  lack  of 
statistics  for  the  months  of  July,  August,  and  September,  1865,  assumed  a  100  per  cent 
daily  attendance  of  the  students  enrolled. 

90  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1870,  BRFAL. 

91  Tipton  R.  Snavely,  Duncan  C.  Hyde,  and  Alvin  B.  Biscoe,  State  Grants-in-Aid  in 
Virginia  (New  York,  1933),  49. 

92  Cornelius  J.  Heatwole,  A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia  (New  York,  1916),  120. 
Elizabeth  City,  Henry,  King  George,  Northampton,  Norfolk,  Princess  Anne,  Washington, 
Albemarle  and  Augusta  counties,  and  Lynchburg,  Petersburg,  and  Norfolk  cities  had 
possessed  such  systems.  See  Heatwole,  A  History  of  Education  in  Virginia,  210-211,  215-218, 
for  a  discussion  of  public  education  in  Virginia  and  the  provisions  for  such  education  in  the 
constitution  of  1869. 


88  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Bureau  schools  had  been  influential  in  the  establishment  of  a 
state  public  school  system.93  Freedmen  who  had  received  the 
benefits  of  the  free  schools  provided  by  the  Bureau  and  benevo- 
lent organizations  certainly  wanted  to  secure  their  continuance. 
Many  whites,  having  seen  free  schools  in  operation,  must  have 
desired  these  advantages  for  their  children.94  The  Bureau  seems 
to  have  made  a  significant  contribution  to  education  in  Virginia 
by  beginning  the  instruction  of  freedmen,  using  its  influence  to 
secure  a  free  public  school  system,  and  laying  a  foundation  for 
such  a  system. 

Had  the  system  of  education  established  by  the  Bureau  been 
different  the  contributions  might  have  been  even  greater.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  exclusive  employment  as  teachers  of 
native  white  Virginians  would  have  removed  much  of  the  odium 
attached  to  the  idea  of  educating  the  Negro.  Instead  benevolent 
societies  of  abolitionist  leanings  sent  Yankee  teachers  of  similar 
sentiments  who  were  motivated  not  only  by  humanitarian  in- 
stincts but  by  a  crusading  zeal  to  establish  social  equality  and  a 
desire  to  organize  the  Negro  race  into  a  southern  Republican 
party.  The  Norfolk  Virginian  stated : 

Had  they  confined  themselves  merely  to  teaching  the  objects  of 
their  idolatry  the  rudiments  of  our  English  education —  to  read, 
to  write,  and  to  cypher,  ...  we  might  have  let  their  impudent 
assumptions  pass  with  the  contempt  of  silence ;  but  they  failed  to 
confine  themselves  to  these  harmless  objects,  and  at  once  set  to 
work  assiduously  to  array  the  colored  race  against  their  former 
masters  and  present  natural  protectors.95 

Violent  opposition  to  freedmen's  schools  seems  not  to  have  been 
motivated  by  animosity  toward  the  principle  of  Negro  education 
as  much  as  by  opposition  to  the  social  and  political  activities  of 
the  teachers.  There  is  a  distinct  correlation  between  the  fre- 
quency of  school  burnings,  assaults,  and  other  violence  and  the 
amount  of  political  activity  in  the  state.  From  the  establishment 
of  the  Bureau  in  1865  to  the  summer  of  1867,  reports  of  violence 
were  few  and  opposition  to  Negro  education  seems  primarily  to 
have  been  based  upon  the  idea  that  it  was  useless  to  educate 


m  Manly,  report  for  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1870,  BRFAL. 

m  For   example,    see   Norfolk   Journal,    June    1,    1867,    quoted    in    American    Missionary,    XI 
(July,  1867),   151-52. 
'""•Norfolk  Virginian,  July  2,  1866,  in  American  Missionary,  X    (August,  1866),  174. 


Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro  Education  89 

laborers.  During  the  political  campaigns  of  late  1867,  1868,  and 
early  1869  reports  of  outrages  committed  on  teachers  and  schools 
showed  a  notable  increase,  and  opposition  to  freedmen's  schools 
became  more  pronounced.  After  the  adoption  of  the  state  con- 
stitution violence  declined  and  the  opposition  of  whites  toward 
Negro  education  seems  to  have  become  of  relative  insignificance. 

Social  ostracism  and  obstruction  of  Bureau  and  benevolent 
organization  efforts  to  establish  schools  again  appears  to  be  due, 
in  a  large  extent,  to  the  actions  of  the  "Yankee"  teachers.  Handi- 
capped from  the  start  because  they,  like  the  Union  soldiers  before 
them,  were  invaders  of  Virginia,  they  openly  displayed  their 
Union  sentiments  and  their  contempt  for  the  "secesh."  To  name 
a  school  after  Lincoln  might  be  tolerated,  but  to  name  schools 
after  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  and  "Beast"  Butler,  of  New  Orleans 
fame,  was  hardly  desirable  if  hostility  was  to  be  avoided.  More- 
over, to  teach  the  freedmen  to  sing  "John  Brown's  soul  [body?]" 
and  other  Union  songs,  to  utilize  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  as  a  reading 
exercise,  and  to  inspire  freedmen  students  in  Richmond  to  cele- 
brate the  fall  of  that  city,  could  accomplish  little  but  an  aliena- 
tion of  the  whites  and  Negroes.96  The  fact  that  some  teachers 
seemed  to  advocate  social  equality,  both  by  their  teaching  and  by 
their  actions,97  obviously  must  have  been  considered  dangerous 
by  a  people  who  only  recently  had  belonged  to  a  slaveholding 
society.  This  is  not  to  imply,  however,  that  all  opposition  to 
freedmen's  schools  was  caused  by  the  actions  of  the  teachers. 
Ante-bellum  slave  insurrections  undoubtedly  had  left  a  tradition- 
al fear  of  the  educated  Negro.  Some  opposition  to  the  freed- 
men's schools  was  probably  due  to  bigotry,  intolerance,  and  social 
pressure.  Still  other  opposition  arose  from  people  who  felt  that 
laborers  had  no  need  of  an  education.  Nevertheless,  it  seems 
justifiable  to  attribute  much  of  the  hostility  to  freedmen's  schools, 
much  of  the  violence  and  ostracism,  and  much  of  the  obstruction 
of  educational  efforts  to  the  northern  school  teachers. 

Despite  such  drawbacks  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  under  the 
able  direction  of  Superintendent  Manly,  did  accomplish  its  main 


96  Thomas  A.  Cushman,  Bristol  Goodson,  to  Manly,  October  5,  1869,  BRFAL;  letter  of  Miss 
Armstrong,  Norfolk,  March  27,  1865,  in  American  Missionary,  IX  (June,  1865),  124;  letter 
of  Susan  H.  Clark,  Slabtown,  January,  1867,  in  American  Missionary,  XI  (March,  1867),  64; 
letter  of  Bessie  L.  Canedy,  Richmond,  April  3,  1868,  in  Freedmen's  Record,  IV  (May,  1868), 
79. 

97  See,  for  example,  Fanny  Pegram,  Charlotte  Court  House,  to  Manly  [received,  April  22, 
1869],  BRFAL. 


90  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

purpose — that  of  providing  education  for  the  Negroes  during  its 
operation  in  the  state.  Fifty  thousand  young  freedmen  supposed- 
ly had  learned  to  read  and  write  in  its  schools,  though  some 
of  the  letters  of  freedmen's  school  teachers  indicate  that  this 
knowledge  of  reading  and  writing  must  have  been  extremely 
limited.98  Hundreds  of  freedmen  were  reported  to  be  in  training 
for  the  teaching  profession  in  the  normal  schools,  and  scores 
already  had  become  successful  teachers.  Two  hundred  school- 
houses  had  been  erected.  Normal  schools  for  the  training  of 
Negro  teachers  had  been  founded.  The  principle  of  industrial 
education  had  been  introduced  by  S.  C.  Armstrong,  a  Bureau 
agent,  at  Hampton  Institute.  Not  only  had  the  attitude  toward 
Negro  education  progressed  from  opposition  to  relative  accep- 
tance, but  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  state  now  contained 
provisions  for  free  public  schools  for  both  races.  Thus,  though 
the  Bureau  and  its  schools  often  were  idealistic  rather  than 
practical,  strongly  reforming  in  attitude,  and  decidedly  political 
in  tenor,  they  made  valuable  contributions  to  Negro  education 
in  Virginia. 


98  James  H.  Branden,  Petersburg,  to  Manly,  June  18,  1869,  BRFAL,  requested  "25  spelli 
Books  and  4  Rithmeticks,"  stated  that  he  had  not  received  any  "Pay  for  my  Servises  yet," 
and  said  he  "woold  bee  very  Glad  if  you  woold  let  [me]  have  some  money  at  this  presant 
time  as  i  am  in  Great  kneed  of  it  And  thare  is  a  Great  knead  of  A  school  in  this  versinity. 
.  .  ."  Another  teacher,  jointly  engaged  with  a  friend  in  instructing  the  freedmen,  told 
Manly:  "Ralph  Edmunds  can't  write,  he  only  teaches  the  scholars  to  spell  and  to  read  and 
keeps  good  order  in  the  school."  Benjamin  J.  Medley  and  Ralph  Edmunds,  New's  Ferry,  to 
Manly,  January  15,  1870,  BRFAL. 


UNPUBLISHED  LETTERS  OF  CALVIN  HENDERSON  WILEY 
Edited  By  Mary  Callum  Wiley 

The  following  hitherto  unpublished  letters,  with  the  exception 
of  the  first  two  and  the  last,  were  written  by  Calvin  Henderson 
Wiley1  (or  Henderson  Wiley,  as  he  was  called  in  the  family  circle 
of  his  boyhood  and  youth — never  Calvin  Wiley)  during  the  dark 
years  of  the  late  1840's  and  the  early  1850's,  when  financial  re- 
verses were  overshadowing  the  old  homeplace  in  Guilford  County 
and  the  struggling  young  lawyer  of  Oxford  was  seeking  through 
his  literary  aspirations  to  bring  security  to  his  dearly  beloved 
mother  and  young  sisters. 

The  following  quaintly  styled  letter  from  his  boyhood  friend 
and  neighbor,  young  Jeremy  F.  Gilmer,2  throws  light  upon  the 
eager  striving  of  Wiley  for  more  and  more  education.  His 
early  schooling  was  obtained  at  a  subscription  school  locally 
called,  because  of  the  red  mud  with  which  the  walls  of  the  log 
schoolhouse  were  daubed,  the  Little  Red  School.  In  his  teens  he 
attended  the  Caldwell  Institute  in  Greensboro  and  it  is  of  this 
school  that  the  sixteen-year-old  Jeremy  writes  to  his  friend  Hen- 
derson, one  year  his  junior. 

Alamance3  Aug.  the  6th  A.  D.  1834 
Dear  Sir 

I  seat  myself  at  my  desk  to  write  you  a  few  lines.  I  received  a 
letter  this  evening  from  Brother  John4  who  informs  me  that  if 
you  are  going  to  school  the  next  session  to  Greensboro'  you  can 

1  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley,  son  of  David  L.  and  Anne  Woodburn  Wiley,  born  February  3, 
1819,  in  Guilford  County;  graduated  from  tbe  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1840;  licensed 
to  practice  law  in  1841;  author  of  historical  romances,  Alamance;  or,  the  Great  and  Final 
Experiment,  1874,  and  Roanoke;  or,  Where  is  Utopia  ?  in  1849,  and  The  North-Carolina 
Reader,  1851.  Member  of  the  Legislature  in  1850  and  1852;  superintendent  of  Common 
Schools  of  North  Carolina  from  1853  to  1865;  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  1866;  general 
agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  of  East  and  Middle  Tennessee  in  1869-1874  and  of 
North  and  South  Carolina  in  1874-1887.  Died  in  Winston,  January  11,  1887. 

2  Jeremy  Forbis  Gilmer,  born  in  Guilford  County,  February  23,  1818.  Graduated  from  West 
Point  in  1839,  fourth  in  his  class  of  thirty -three.  As  Chief  of  Engineers,  he  was  engaged  in 
building  forts  and  making  surveys  in  river  and  harbor  improvements  until  the  outbreak 
of  the  War  between  the  States,  when  he  resigned  and  as  Chief  Engineer  on  General  Albert 
Sidney  Johnston's  staff  engaged  in  active  service.  After  recovery  from  severe  wounds  at  the 
Battle  of  Shiloh  he  was  made  Chief  of  the  Engineers  Bureau,  Richmond.  In  1863  he  was 
promoted  to  Major-General.  "West  Point  Soldiers  in  Confederate  Army,"  Fayetteville 
Observer,  October  6,  1862;  Sallie  W.  Stockard,  The  History  of  Guilford  County,  North 
Carolina,   176. 

3  The  members  of  the  ancient  Presbyterian  church,  Alamance,  six  miles  from  Greensboro, 
always  referred  to  their  section  as  Alamance,  not  Guilford. 

*  John  Adams  Gilmer,  born  on  his  father's  farm  in  the  Alamance  Church  section, 
November  4,  1805.  Entered  the  law  office  of  Archibald  D.  Murphey,  Greensboro,  in  1829.  State 
senator  from  Guilford  in  1846-1850;  in  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives  as 
member  from  the  fifth  North  Carolina  district,  1857-1861.  Offered  a  place  in  Lincoln's 
cabinet  but  declined  the  post  to  enter  the  Confederate  Army.  Died  in  1868.  J.  G.  de  Roulhac 
Hamilton,  Reconstruction  in  North  Carolina,  20;  Gerald  W.  Johnson,  "John  Adams  Gilmer," 
in  Bettie  D.  Caldwell,  compiler,  Founders  and  Builders  of  Greensboro,   1808-1908,   98-102. 

[91] 


92  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

board5  with  him;  and  you  and  I  can  both  room  together  in  the 
same  room.  I  would  be  very  glad  indeed  to  have  you  for  a  Room 
Mate.  He  will  board  you  for  five  Dollars  a  month.  You  were  speak- 
ing of  studying  English  Grammar  and  Geography  before  you 
commenced  the  study  of  the  languages  but  you  can  study  the 
latter  to  as  much  advantage  without  studying  either  of  these  and 
when  you  understand  the  latin  tongue  it  is  quite  easy  to  study 
the  English;  and  I  have  heard  some  say  it  was  the  best  way  to 
study  the  latin  first ;  and  as  for  Geography  you  can  study  that  at 
night  and  recite  a  lesson  every  morning  without  interfering  much 
with  your  other  studies.  Try  and  persuade  your  Father  to  send 
you  this  session  and  by  a  little  hard  study  and  industry  you  can 
join  me  in  my  class  and  then  we  will  go  on  together  and  by  our 
rooming  together  we  would  have  all  opportunities  for  improve- 
ment, when  the  one  got  stalded  [stalled]  perhaps  the  other  could 
help  him  out.  I  wish  if  you  could  have  any  opportunity,  you  would 
let  me  know  whether  you  will  go  of  not.6 
Nothing  more  but  remain  your  affectionate 

friend  till  death 
Jeremy  Gilmer 
Henderson  Wiley 

As  a  preface  to  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley's  letters  of  the  1840's, 
the  following  notation  on  the  first  page  of  one  of  his  books,  John 
C.  Fremont's  Report  of  the  Exploring  Expedition  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  Senate  publication,  1845,  may  be  inserted. 

To  C.  H.  Wiley,  Esq. 
Sir, 

I  send  you  an  American  work  in  acknowledgement  of 
your  interesting  letter  of  the  1st  ultimo. 
Respectfully, 

Thomas  H.  Benton7 
March  1848 


5  John  Adams  Gilmer  married  the  daughter  of  the  Reverend  William  Paisley  and  settled 
in  a  home  on  the  corner  of  Mr.  Paisley's  lot,  now  the  site  of  the  West  Market  Street 
Methodist  Church,  opposite  Guilford  Courthouse.  While  he  was  establishing  himself  in  law 
his  young  wife  took  boarders,  Gerald  W.  Johnson,  "John  Adams  Gilmer,"  in  Founders  and 
Builders  of  Greensboro,  99.  John  Adams  Gilmer  to  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  n.  d. 

6  The  author  has  been  unable  to  determine  the  exact  dates  of  Calvin  Wiley's  schooling  in 
Greensboro.  In  an  address  before  the  literary  societies  of  Greensboro  Female  College  in  the 
1850's  (manuscript  now  in  the  North  Carolina  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  Raleigh), 
Wiley  gives  this  glimpse  of  his  school  days  at  the  Caldwell  Institute:  "Thou  I  profess  to  be 
a  very  young  man,  I  can  well  remember  the  advent  of  the  first  Piano  for  schools  in  Greens- 
boro; and  the  sensation  which  it  produced.  A  life  Giraffe  promenading  our  streets  could  not 
be  more  wondered  at;  and  when  it  was  safely  housed  in  the  dingy  little  brick  building 
immediately  north  of  us,  the  boys  and  the  men  peeped  in  at  the  windows,  walked  cautiously 
around  it,   [the  piano]   handled  it,  and  touched  the  keys  with  awful  admiration. 

"The  Presbyterians  built  that  admirable  school,  the  Caldwell  Institute;  the  Methodist, 
with  generous  rivalry  of  the  right  kind  determined  to  erect  a  Female  College.  And  sure 
enough,  in  a  very  short  time,  that  old  field  where  we  boys  used  to  hunt,  then  a  far-off 
wilderness  of  sedge  and  pines,  is  suddenly  blossoming  with  rosy  cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes; 
a  beautiful  structure  crowns  the  crest  of  the  barren  hill,  and  a  Town  springs  up  as  if  by 
enchantment." 

In  an  undated  note  to  Wiley,  Lyndon  Swain,  editor  of  the  Greensborough  Patriot,  writes: 
"I  think  I  could  make  a  tolerably  good  drawing  of  the  old  Building  [Caldwell  Institute] 
from  recollection.  It  looked  something  like  a  big  old  kettle  turned  bottom  upward;  its 
chimney  flues  standing  for  the  eyes."  Lyndon  Swain  to  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  n.  d. 

7  Thomas   Hart  Benton,   born   in   1782   on   his  father's   plantation   near   Hillsboro.   Removed 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  9 


o 


Above  this  note  in  another  hand,  perhaps  that  of  Senator  Ben- 
ton's secretary,  appear  the  words:  "The  following  is  the  auto- 
graph of  the  Hon.  T.  H.  Benton    U.  S.  Senator  from  Mo." 

Letters  to  His  Mother 

The  same  tender  devotion  which  in  later  years  Calvin  Hender- 
son Wiley  lavished  upon  his  wife8  and  children  breathes  through 
these  letters  to  his  mother,  who  for  years  was  practically  an 
invalid,  frequently  suffering  attacks  of  severe  illness. 

New-York,  July  17th  1848 
My  Dear  Mother : 

I  have  not  for  a  long  time  written  to  you  because  I  have  been 
pushing  for  six  months  to  become  independent.  I  made  up  my 
mind  at  the  beginning  of  this  year  to  make  a  certain  sum  of 
money,  get  rid  of  all  my  debts  &  business  &  live  with  you.  I  made 
up  my  mind  also  to  change  my  course  of  life,  to  become  in  heart 
religious.9  I  pray  twice  a  day  &  never  forget  you  &  father  & 
sisters  in  my  prayers.  Such  has  been  my  course  of  life  for  months 
&  I  trust  that  God  at  least  will  bless  me. 

I  have  been  in  debt  &  hardly  able  to  live  &  have  been  trying  to 
make  something  by  my  pen10  as  well  as  by  my  profession.  My 
health  failed  me  in  the  spring  &  has  been  delicate  for  some  time. 
Still  I  have  been  working  &  praying,  doing  my  best  &  looking  to 
Heaven  for  its  aid. 

I  am  now  here  on  business  connected  with  my  books,  etc.  & 
it  is  my  confident  expectation  to  be  able  in  one  month  to  leave 
off  my  business  in  Granville.  I  hope  to  get  money  enough  now  to 
pay  all  my  debts,  to  pay  yours  &  to  enable  us  all  to  move  to  a 
more  healthy  &  better  country.  I  want  to  be  able  to  live  with  you 
&  cheer  &  comfort  you. 

to  Tennessee  in  1800;  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1811;  removed  to  St.  Louis,  1815;  elected  United 
States  senator  from  Missouri,  1820,  and  held  that  office  for  thirty  years.  Died  in  1858.  He 
was  a  great  champion  of  Jaxksonian  democracy.  Archibald  Henderson,  North  Carolina:  The 
Old  North  State  and  the  New,   XI,   40-42. 

8  Mittie  Towles  of  Raleigh,  daughter  of  James  Moore  and  Mary  Ann  Callum  Towles. 

9  Though  deeply  religious,  Wiley  was  not  at  this  time  active  in  that  profession.  It  was  the 
desire  of  his  mother's  heart  that  he  devote  his  life  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 

10  While  in  Philadelphia  in  1847  Wiley  met  the  patron  of  young  writers,  George  R. 
Graham,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  literary  efforts  by  accepting  articles  for  publication  in 
Graham's  Magazine. 

In  anticipation  of  the  publication  of  Alamance,  William  G.  Noble,  formerly  of  Franklin 
County,  but  in  1847  a  resident  of  New  York  City,  sent  Wiley,  under  the  date,  "New  York, 
August  4,  1847,"  a  list  of  "warm  and  devoted  friends,"  all  of  whom  intended  to  patronize 
his  forthcoming  book  and  recommend  it  to  their  friends.  On  this  interesting  paper  containing 
the  autographed  list  of  names,  Mr.  Noble  writes:  "Mr.  Wiley  is  well  known  in  North 
Carolina  as  a  writer.  A  series  of  political  essays  written  by  him  just  after  quitting  college 
were  generally  attributed  to  the  Pen  of  Sen1  George  E.  Badger,  the  most  gifted  man  in  the 
State  and  as  such  were  answered  by  the  then  Treasurer  of  the  State,  who  addressed  his 
answers  to  Mr.  B.  and  alledging  [sic]  that  every  body  knew  that  he,  and  he  only,  could  be 
the    author." 

George  Edmund  Badger  (1795-1866)  was  a  lawyer,  orator,  and  scholar.  A  member  of  the 
North  Carolina  House  of  Representatives  from  New  Bern  in  1816,  he  was  elected  judge  of 
the  Superior  Courts  in  1820  and  served  five  years,  was  United  States  senator,  1846-1855, 
and  was  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  Harrison.  He  distinguished  himself  in  courts  of 
appeal  by  his  powerful  exposition  of  the  law.  J.  G.  de  Roulhac  Hamilton,  "Badger,  George 
Edmund,"  in  Dictionary  of  American  Biography,  I,  485-486. 


94  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

My  dear  Mother,  you  must  not  think  that  I  have  forgotten  you 
for  one  moment  or  your  early  instructions.  To  your  early  in- 
structions &  care  I  owe  all  I  am ;  they  have  followed  me  through 
all  my  trials  &  been  with  me  sustaining  me  &  guiding  me. 

Oh,  how  I  wish  that  you  had  been  able  to  raise  &  educate  my 
sisters  as  I  was  reared  &  educated!  You  are  the  best  teacher  in 
the  world  &  if  God  will  only  spare  my  life  &  give  me  health,  I  will 
show  you  that  I  am  the  most  affectionate  son.  I  know  you  have 
thought  hard  of  me  but  I  have  been  from  day  to  day  &  from 
month  to  month  struggling  &  hoping  to  bring  you  cheering  news. 
I  did  not  wish  to  see  you  until  I  was  able  to  do  something  for  you 
&  every  week  I  expected  to  be  able  to  see  you  &  live  with  you. 

Disappointment  after  disappointment  has  followed  me  until 
now— I  see  light  now  &  soon  I  hope  to  bring  you  good  news.  If 
my  plans  do  not  fail,  I  will  receive  this  summer  a  considerable 
sum  of  money.  ...  I  will  take  you  to  a  better  country  [at  this 
time  there  seems  to  have  been  a  great  deal  of  malaria  in  Guil- 
ford]. In  that  new  country  I  will  still  have  to  practise  law  but 
we  will  all  live  together.  Then  &  not  till  then  will  I  get  married 

Be  sure  to  keep  Asenath  &  Emily11  always  reading.  Do  not  let 
poverty  cause  them  to  forget  a  proper  pride  &  self-respect.  Re- 
member that  poor  people  can  be  accomplished  &  well  read  as  well 
as  rich  ones;  that  education  is  in  fact  more  important  to  them 
than  to  the  rich.  Never  let  them  forget  that  money  does  not  make 
respectability,  but  virtue,  learning,  piety  &  a  dignified  self- 
respect.  Make  my  sisters,  as  you  made  me,  put  their  minds  & 
hearts  on  some  high  position;  they  can  learn  at  home;  you  can 
teach  them  much.  Keep  them  reading,  reading  &  writing.  It  is 
my  intention  to  get  some  pious,  plain  &  educated  woman  to  live 
with  you  &  teach  [my]  sisters.12 

Give  my  hearty  love  to  Kate13  &  her  children,  to  Em  &  Senath, 
to  father  &  Mr.  Rankin.14  Tell  father  the  heart  of  his  son  yearns 
for  him  &  hopes  that  the  remainder  of  his  days  will  be  happy  & 
peaceful.  Let  us  all  with  an  enlightened  hope,  with  pious  hearts 
&  just  actions,  look  for  a  blessed  Union  in  Heaven.  You'll  hear 
from  me  soon. 

Your  most  affectionate  son, 
C.  H.  Wiley 

Mrs.  Anne  Wiley 

P.  S.  I  hope  to  get  home  in  a  month.  I  will  try  to  send  you  some 
money  before  I  see  you.  Remember  me  to  all  the  good  old  Ala- 
mancers  [members  of  Alamance  Presbyterian  congregation,  Guil- 
ford County] . 

11  Wiley's  sisters. 

12  In  1856  Wiley  employed  a  cultivated  lady  from  Brooklyn,  New  York,  Miss  Isabella 
Oakley,  as  governess  for  his  sisters,  Asenath  and  Emily,  and  the  children  of  his  sister 
Catherine  (Mrs.  Sam  Rankin).  For  three  years  Miss  Oakley  was  a  member  of  the  household 
at  Woodbourne  (the  old  Guilford  homestead  which  Calvin  Wiley,  upon  becoming  head  of  the 
household  at  the  death  of  his  father  in  1860,  so  named  in  honor  of  his  mother,  Anne 
Woodburn).  Some  years  after  this,  upon  the  death  of  Mrs.  Rankin,  he  took  into  his  home 
the  two  youngest  Rankin  children,  Cyrus  and  Alice,  and  employed  for  them  another 
governess,  an  English-born  woman,  Miss  Matilda  Middleton  of  Kentucky. 

13  His  sister  Catherine    (Mrs.  Sam  Rankin). 

14  Sam  Rankin   of  Guilford   County,   husband   of   Catherine. 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  95 

The  next  letter,  from  which  excerpts  are  taken,  bears  the  date 
August  14,  1849,  and  is  written  from  Wythe  County,  Virginia, 
where  Wiley  in  the  interest  of  his  health  had  gone  that, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  day,  he  might  drink  the  medicinal 
waters  of  some  country  spring.  This  was  not  the  first  visit  he  had 
made  to  Wythe  County  seeking  restoration  of  health,  for  a  no- 
tation on  a  printed  funeral  notice  of  Isaac  Painter,  Tazewell  Court 
House,  Virginia,  June  1,  1885,  bears  these  words:  "When  a  boy, 
on  my  first  trip  from  home,  gone  for  health,  boarded  with  Mr. 
P.  on  Cripple  Creek,  Wythe  Co,  Va.  A  good  man  and  great  &  life 
long  friend  of  mine  gone.  C.  H.  W." 

My  Dear  Mother: 

Since  I  wrote  you  my  health  has  been  improving.  ...  I  want  to 
see  you  very  much.  .  .  . 

Keep  a  stout  heart.  I  hope  yet  to  enable  you  to  see  much  of  the 
world.  I  may  get  an  office15  in  this  country ;  &  if  I  do,  I  will  carry 
you  with  me.  If  I  go  abroad,  I  will  give  you  &  my  sisters  one  half 
of  all  I  make.  ...  If  I  were  to  get  the  office  I  want,  I  could  make 
you  comfortable  for  life ;  lay  up  about  twenty  five  hundred  dollars 
a  piece  for  [my]  sisters  &  make  myself  independent. 

Let  us  keep  hoping  &  keep  working;  life  was  given  to  us  to 
work  &  to  hope.  ...  As  my  health  returns,  I  feel  strong  hopes  of 
being  able  to  do  a  great  deal  yet.  I  shall  not,  for  the  present,  make 
any  effort  in  Washington ;  when  I  do  [go]  on,  I  will  go  determined 
to  act  like  a  man  &  a  philosopher  &  push  hard.  .  .  . 

[After  sending  his  love  to  each  member  of  the  family  by  name, 
including  Heatty,  the  old  black  cook,  a  slave,  he  says  he  will  try 
to  catch  a  ground  squirrel  for  Joe,  his  oldest  nephew,  and  bring 
something  for  little  Willie  and  Cyrus.] 

Let  us  all  believe  that  God  is  good  &  trust  in  His  justice  &  be 
happy  in  the  reflection  that  He  will  do  what  is  right. 

I  remain  my  dearest  Mother, 

Your  affectionate  son, 

C.  H.  Wiley 
Mrs.  Anne  Wiley. 

Having  recovered  his  health,  Wiley  in  the  late  fall  of 
1849  made  the  trip  to  Washington,  pushing  hard,  as  he  said  in  his 
last  letter,  as  a  man  and  a  philosopher  in  the  interest  of  the  gov- 
ernment appointment  he  sought. 

In  the  following,  as  in  all  his  letters,  he  shows  deep  concern 
for  his  mother,  writing :  "My  health  is  still  good  but  night  before 
last  I  dreamed  that  you  were  suddenly  taken  sick  with  a  cramp  in 


15  There  is  no  record  to  show  what  this  "office"  was. 


96  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

your  side.  I  have  been  very  melancholy  since  &  would  like  to 
know  exceedingly  if  you  are  well." 

No  matter  how  engrossed  he  was  in  personal  affairs,  he  never 
forgot  in  writing  to  his  mother  to  send  some  message  to  the  chil- 
dren of  his  sister  Catherine.  "Tell  Kathy,"  he  writes  in  this  let- 
ter, "that  I'll  bring  the  boys  a  present." 

Washington  City 
Nov.  9,  1849 
My  Dear  Mother : 

I  have  to  write  again  before  I  know  my  fate.  Things  here  work 
very  slowly ;  in  fact  office-hunting  is  a  very  poor  business.  I  have 
seen  Mr.  Clayton16  several  times;  but  he  seems  to  think  nothing 
can  be  done  till  Congress  meets.  A  good  many  North-Carolinians 
are  pushing  for  office  &  they  keep  putting  us  off,  telling  us  that 
[they]  do  not  like  to  decide  between  us,  &  that  they  want  to  wait 
till  they  see  our  members  of  Congress.  This  is  precisely  the  state 
of  the  case;  &  as  there  is  not  much  to  be  seen  here  &  nothing 
to  do  you  may  be  sure  my  time  hangs  heavy  on  my  hands.  I  do 
[go]  every  day  to  see  some  of  the  Government ;  &  I  intend  to  keep 
pushing  as  long  as  there  is  a  chance.  I  have  no  doubt  we  will  all 
have  to  wait  till  the  meeting  of  Congress  &  that  is  three  weeks 
from  next  Monday. 

I  keep  in  good  spirits ;  I  know  Providence  will  bring  all  things 
right.  If  I  have  to  leave  you,  I  will  have  an  office  &  send  you 
money;  if  I  can't  get  any  office,  I  can  stay  with  you  all  though 
poor.  So  that  things  are  not  so  bad ;  &  we  have  the  consolation  of 
knowing  all  is  for  the  best.  .  .  . 

God  bless  you  all ! 

I  remain  Your  affectionate  son, 

C.  H.  Wiley 
Mrs.  Anne  Wiley 

In  the  1840's  thousands  of  North  Carolinians  were  emigrating 
with  their  families  to  sections  to  the  southwest  and  west  which 
seemingly  offered  better  opportunities  for  material  advancement. 
Carefully  studying  the  causes  which  were  thus  bringing  ruin  upon 
his  beloved  state,  the  young  author  and  lawyer  came  to  the  con- 
viction that  the  one  thing  that  would  remedy  this  deplorable 
condition  and  lead  to  the  development  of  the  untold  resources  of 
the  state  was  universal  education — education  not  only  of  the 
youth  of  the  state  but  also  of  the  adult  citizenry.  With  youthful 
zeal  he  took  upon  himself  the  patriotic  task  of  bringing  about  the 
reforms  necessary  for  this  universal  education. 


16  The  author  has  not  been  able  to  identify  Mr.  Clayton. 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  97 

Realizing  that  only  as  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  could 
he  bring  about  educational  reform  and  that  in  his  native  county 
he  would  have  the  best  chance  of  election  to  this  body,  he  re- 
turned to  Guilford  County,  arriving  on  the  very  day  prescribed  by 
law  for  him  to  be  there  in  order  to  become  a  candidate.17 

As  a  Whig  he  was  elected  as  a  representative  of  Guilford  to 
the  legislature  of  1850-1851.  The  following  letters  tell  of  the  bill 
he  introduced  at  this  session  of  the  legislature.  They  show  also 
the  burden  he  had  taken  upon  himself  in  the  management  of  the 
old  home  in  Guilford,  the  ever  present  anxiety  concerning  the 
health  of  his  beloved  mother,  his  love  for  children,  and  his  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  "little  darkies"  and  the  others  at  Wood- 
bourne. 

Raleigh  Nov.  22,  1850 
Dear  Mother: 

This  Thursday  is  the  fourth  day  of  the  session  &  we  are  getting 
on  very  smoothly.  The  democrats  elected  their  speakers  in  both 
houses ;  James  C.  Dobbin  is  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  & 
Weldon  Edwards  of  the  Senate.  Dobbin  is  from  Fayetteville  & 
Edwards  from  Warren. 

The  Legislature  is  organized  but  we  have  not  yet  got  to  doing 
very  important  business.  The  probability  is  that  by  the  middle 
of  next  week  we  will  be  fully  under  way.  There  are  not  many 
visitors  here  at  this  time.  I  suppose  they  are  waiting  till  we  get 
the  steam  up. 

I  am  well,  but  I  am  not  pleased  with  my  room.  I  think  it  proba- 
ble that  I  will  leave  my  boarding  house  to  go  to  another.  We  are 
entirely  too  much  crowded,  having  at  least  75  boarders. 

To-morrow  I  expect  to  introduce  a  bill  for  the  appointment  of 
a  superintendent  of  the  Common  Schools.  The  governor  in  his 
message18  strongly  recommends  it.  The  probability  is  that  one 
will  be  appointed.  I  do  hope  I'll  be  the  man.  Of  course  you  must 
not  talk  of  this ;  say  nothing  until  you  see  what  happens. 

Sam  in  his  letter  says  that  Cyrus  had  been  very  sick  with  an- 
other chill.  I  looked  for  this.  I  tell  you  that  child  must  be  looked 
to.  When  I  was  with  him,  I  made  him  wear  his  hat,  shoes  &  stock- 

17  R.  D.  W.  Connor,  in  The  News  and  Observer  (Raleigh),  February  2,  1902. 

18  The  Fayetteville  Observer  on  November  26,  1850,  published  the  speech  of  Governor 
Charles  Manly,  in  which  the  governor  says:  "The  want  of  information  [concerning  common 
schools]  suggests  the  necessity  of  creating  a  new  officer  in  the  government  to  take  the 
general  charge  of  the  whole  business  ...  to  be  designated  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction 
or  the  General  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools."  The  editor  of  the  Observer  in  the  same 
issue  in  speaking  editorially  of  the  governor's  message  says:  "As  for  the  operation  of  the 
System  [of  common  schools]  itself,  it  appears  that  reform  is  indispensably  necessary.  This 
is  ab[o]undingly  evident  to  prevent  the  System  from  degenerating  into  a  nuisance,  and  from 
losing  its  hold  upon  the  public  regard,  to  which,  if  properly  administered,  it  is  pre-eminently 
entitled."  In  the  proceedings  of  the  House,  printed  also  in  this  issue  of  the  Fayetteville 
Observer,  the  following  item  appears:  Nov.  25,  1850.  Mr.  Wiley,  a  bill  to  provide  for 
appointing  a  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  and  for  other  purposes.  Ordered  to  be 
printed." 


98  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

ings  &  would  not  let  him  run  out  in  the  rain  and  eat  trash.  I  also 
gave  him  two  rhubarb  pills ;  they  are  the  best  things  for  him.  He 
took  it  very  much  to  heart  when  we  all  seemed  to  take  no  notice 
of  him.  I  think  that  this  had  some  effect  in  bringing  back  his 
chills. 

I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that  Willie  is  still  getting  better.  I  have 
no  doubt  but  that  he  will  get  well  if  they  will  be  careful  with  him. 
I  hope  they  will  be  especially  particular  in  regard  to  his  diet  & 
going  out  in  the  rain.19  Tell  him  &  Cyrus  &  Joe  that  I  will  bring 
them  all  presents.  Give  Cyrus  the  envelope  that  comes  round  this 
letter  &  tell  him  I  sent  it  to  him. 

Did  Wilson  Kirkman20  cut  that  wood?  When  will  he  want  his 
pay  ?  I  do  hope  you  are  still  improving ;  remember  your  health  is 
more  important  than  that  of  any  of  us.  Please  try  to  keep  your 
spirits  up ;  keep  your  feet  dry  &  warm  &  do  not  undertake  to  lift 
too  much.  Keep  your  bowels  regular  with  the  rhubarb  &  the  pills 
I  sent  to  you ;  &  be  especially  particular  in  your  diet. 

I  have  been  treated  with  kind  consideration  by  the  members; 
&  already  I  am  acquainted  with  nearly  all.  Of  course  nobody  ever 
said  a  word  about  my  right  to  my  seat;21  on  the  contrary  every 
one  congratulated  me  on  my  success. 

The  Governor's  message  was  sent  in  &  read  on  Tuesday ;  it  will 
be  printed  &  I  will  send  papa  a  copy  for  him  &  Sam ;  please  tell 
him  so. 

Give  my  duty  to  him  &  Ningy,22  my  love  to  Senath,  Em, 
Catherine  &  her  little  ones  &  my  regards  to  Sam.  Tell  all  the 
little  "darkies"  that  I  will  bring  them  presents.  .  .  . 

I'll  keep  you  informed  of  how  I  get  on.  I  hope  you'll  all  keep 
well,  black  and  white.  Tell  Heatty23  to  keep  up  a  brave  heart.  Do 
the  best,  all  of  you,  &  trust  in  God  for  the  rest. 
I  remain  your  affectionate  son, 
C.  H.  Wiley 
Mrs.  Anne  Wiley 

Raleigh  Dec.  6th  1850 
My  Dear  Mother : 

I  do  not  know  when  I  was  so  glad  as  when  I  received  &  read 
your  last  letter.  You  have  been  saying  that  your  mind  is  failing ; 
I  have  lately  had  evidence  of  exactly  the  contrary.  It  is  said  that 
people  are  in  their  prime,  as  far  as  the  mind  is  concerned,  at  fifty ; 
&  your  letters  seem  to  be  written  in  a  better  hand  &  more  full  & 
particular  than  they  used  to  be.  And  that  mistake  in  my  cer- 
tificate,24 who  would  have  noticed  it  but  you  ? 

I  am  sorry  to  hear  how  low  Ningy  is ;  please  remember  me  to 
her.  Tell  her  I  hope  we  will  meet  again  in  this  world;  &  if  not, 

19  The  author  has  heard  her  mother,  Mittie  Towles  Wiley,  say  that  Wiley  was  so 
well  versed  in  medicine  that  the  family  doctors  had  great  respect  for  his  views  concerning 
common   ailments   and  their  treatment. 

20  A  Guilford  County  neighbor. 

21  This  refers  perhaps  to  his  return  to  Guilford  County  just  in  time  to  run  for  a  seat  in 
the  legislature  as  a  member  from  that  county. 

22  Mrs.  Peggy  Porter  Wiley,  his  Irish  stepgrandmother  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached. 
w  A  slave,  long  the  cook  at  Woodbourne. 

24  See  note  21. 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  99 

that  we  will  have  a  joyful  meeting  in  Heaven.  Endeavor  to  en- 
courage her  with  hope  &  all  of  you  try  to  smooth  the  evening  of 
her  life.  God  will  remember  all  these  things  &  will  certainly  in 
this  world  or  the  next  pay  you  a  thousand  fold  for  your  kindness 
to  our  desolate  old  relation.  Tell  her  that  I  think  of  her  &  pray 
for  her ;  &  that  I  want  her  blessing  &  remembrance  in  her  pray- 
ers. The  blessings  of  the  old  &  desolate  will  do  us  good.  .  .  . 

I  am  well  but  I  am  intolerably  tired  of  Raleigh.  I  can  not  get 
milk ;  the  butter  is  old  &  rancid  &  the  water  very  bad.  I  do  hope 
that  we  will  get  through  soon,  but  I  see  no  porspect  Isic"]  of  it. 

My  bill  about  Common  Schools  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  education;  &  they  have  agreed  to  recommend  its  passage.  I 
think  it  will  pass  the  House,  but  then  it  has  to  go  through  the 
Senate.  I  am  told  by  both  parties  that  if  the  bill  passes,  I  will 
be  elected  Superintendent,  but  this  will  be  several  weeks  off  & 
no  one  knows  what  will  happen  in  that  time.  I  have  been  treated 
with  great  kindness  by  both  parties  &  when  I  rise,  the  bubbub 
cease  and  there  is  a  breathless  stillness.  They  all  want  me  to 
speak,25  but  I  have  had  no  occasion  yet  to  make  a  set  speech. 

A  great  many  of  my  old  Granville  friends  are  here  &  they  treat 
me  with  great  kindness. 

There  has  been  a  Masonic  Convention  here  to  settle  the  loca- 
tion of  that  College26  they  are  to  build,  about  two  hundred  Masons 
are  in  attendance.  The  Greensboro'  &  Oxford  people  determined 
that  it  should  go  to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  places,  &  last 
night  the  vote  was  taken  &  Oxford  got  it.  Greensboro'  was  next 
highest.  Jacob  Hiatt,  Cyrus  Mendenhall,  Col.  Millis  &  a  Mr.  Reece, 
a  great  friend  of  mine  from  Jamestown,  are  here  attending  the 
Masonic  Lodge.27  The  Greensboro*  wags  played  a  rather  mean 
joke  on  Hiatt;  they  had  his  arrival  announced  in  the  papers, 
making  him  very  ridiculous.  He  was  furious,  but  could  not  find 
out  the  author  of  it.  I  suspect  Gilmer28  or  Hill29  of  Rockingham. 

Gilmer  is  very  kind  to  me ;  he  does  me  the  honor  to  consult  me 
in  every  movement  he  makes.  He  has  made  the  old  politicians  be- 
lieve that  I  am  very  sharp  &  these  old  fellows  often  consult  me. 
Yesterday  a  man  in  a  speech  alluded  to  me,  saying  he  had  got  a 
good  deal  of  his  matter  from  "his  learned  friend  from  Guilford, 


25  One  must  bear  in  mind  that  a  young  son  is  here  writing  in  intimate  detail  to  his 
mother.  However,  from  what  the  author  has  heard  her  mother  say  and  others  write,  Wiley 
must  have  been  a  forceful  speaker  and  preacher.  In  1902  Dr.  R.  D.  W.  Connor  sent  Mrs. 
Wiley  a  letter  he  had  recently  received  from  D.  S.  Richardson  of  California,  a 
distinguished  educator  of  Wilson,  N.  C,  during  the  time  Wiley  was  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools.  Speaking  of  Wiley,  Richardson  writes:  "My  memory  of  him  is  vivid.  .  .  . 
More  than  any  man  I  was  acquainted  with  he  had  the  genius  of  awakening  the  people  in 
his  cause.  .  .  .  Not  that  he  was  an  orator,  so  called,  or  skilled  in  sensational  devices,  to 
which  he  never  resorted,  lay  the  secret  of  his  power,  It  was  the  simple,  unpretentious,  but 
magnetic  reflection  of  his  'interior  God,'  of  universal  brotherhood.  His  eye,  face  &  gentle 
words  sparkled  with  it.  Nothing  dict[at]orial,  all  suggestive,  but  leading." 

26  As  a  young  Mason,  Wiley  was  the  authorized  agent  to  collect  funds  for  the  establishment 
of  St.  John's  College.  Instead  of  a  college,  however,  the  North  Carolina  Masons  established 
the  Oxford  Orphanage. 

27  Guilford  County  Masons. 

28  John  Adams  Gilmer,  senator  from  Guilford  County. 

29  Probably  William  Hill,  North  Carolina's  secretary  of  state  from  1811  to  1859,  who  was 
from  Rockingham  County. 


100  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Give  my  love  to  all  my  sisters — tell  Senath  I  am  glad  she  has 
got  her  certificate.30  Be  sure  to  tell  Sam's  boys  about  me  &  kiss 
the  baby  for  me.  Tell  Catherine  to  be  careful  of  herself  &  [her] 
children;  &  do  you  be  so  of  yourself  &  of  Senath  &  Emily.  Give 
my  respects  to  father  &  my  love  &  dutiful  regards  to  Ningy.  Tell 
her  I  wish  her  last  moments  to  be  happy  &  peaceful.  Remember 
me  to  Heatty  &  children,  especially  Newt.31 

I  send  you  five  dollars.  I  could  have  sent  more  but  I  have  been 
buying  some  clothes.  I  have  got  me  two  flannel  shirts. 

Be  careful  of  yourself ;  you  are  the  main  stay  of  us  all. 
I  remain  your  affectionate  son, 
C.  H.  Wiley 
Mrs.  Anne  Wiley 

Raleigh  Dec.  13th  1850 
My  Dear  Mother: 

My  bill  to  appoint  a  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  comes 
on  to-day;  &  as  the  papers  say,  I  made  a  great  speech.  When  I 
got  through  Gen.  Saunders,32  the  leading  member  of  the  demo- 
cratic party  &  the  most  distinguished  man  here,  rose  &  said  that 
he  had  been  astonished,  instructed  &  delighted  at  the  able  speech 
of  his  young  friend  from  Guilford  &  & ;  &  my  bill  came  near  get- 
ting through. 

On  Monday  it  will  perhaps  pass  the  House;  &  then  it  has  to 
take  its  chances  in  the  Senate.  If  it  passes,  there  is  no  earthly 
doubt  but  I  will  be  elected  Superintendent ;  that  matter  is  already 
settled. 

The  Guilford  delegation33  get  along  very  well  with  each  other; 
we  are  all  on  excellent  terms.  Gilmer34  has  treated  me  like  a 
father  here ;  &  I  have  been  of  no  little  advantage  to  him. . . . 

How  are  you  all  coming  on  ?  How  is  Ningy  ?  I  would  be  glad 
to  hear  from  her.  I  have  been  listening  to  hear  of  Heatty's  having 
an  heir.  Why  is  she  so  slow  about  it  ?.  .  . 

Tell  Joe  &  Willie  &  Cyrus  I  wrote  about  them ;  &  as  to  the  fat 
baby,  you  can  kiss  it  for  me.  I'd  like  to  see  all  the  little  ones  & 
have  a  frolic  with  them,  Jane  &  Newt  &  Shiel  included.  Tell  Newt 
I'll  bring  him  a  dog.  .  .  . 

Take  care  of  yourself  &  may  God  bless  and  take  care  of  you  all. 
I  remain  your  affectionate  son, 

C.  H.  Wiley 
Mrs.  Anne  Wiley 

Raleigh,  Dec.  19th,  1850 
My  Dear  Mother : 

You[r]  letter  of  the  10th  reached  me  yesterday.  Poor  old 
Ningy !  May  her  soul  rest  in  everlasting  peace !  She  has  long  been 

30  To  teach. 

31  The   son   of   Heatty    (a   slave),    and    the    childhood    companion    and    playmate    of    Wiley. 
He  was  his  special  servant  during  the  1850's. 

32  General  R.  M.  Saunders  of  Raleigh,  representative  of  Wake  County. 

38  Senate:    John    Adams   Gilmer,    Whig;    House   of   Representatives:    D.    F.    Caldwell,    C.    H. 
Wiley,  and  P.  Adams,  Whigs. 
31  John  Adams  Gilmer. 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  101 

desolate ;  I  do  hope  she  has  gone  to  a  home  where  she  will  not  be 
so  lonely.  Although  she  was  too  old  to  be  company  to  us  &  a 
charge,  yet  I  feel  really  sorry  that  she  has  gone. 

I  am  glad  the  rest  of  you  are  all  well ;  poor  little  Willie  has  got 
out  again  I  see.  Let  his  case  be  a  warning  to  us  all  not  to  despair. 
I  still  believed  that  he  would  recover;  we  should  never  predict 
death  or  failure,  but  do  the  best  we  can  &  hope  in  God. 

My  school  bill  did  not  pass.  The  school  fund  is  not  distributed 
fairly  between  the  east  &  west  &  there  is  a  bitter  feeling  between 
these  sections.  While  my  bill  was  under  consideration,  some  one 
moved  an  amendment  to  distribute  the  fund  more  equally;  this 
roused  up  the  old  feeling  &  my  bill  was  killed.  Some  members 
swear  that  they  will  never  vote  to  improve  the  school  laws  till  the 
mode  of  distributing  the  money  is  altered.  If  the  bill  had  passed, 
I  would  have  been  unanimously  elected. 

It  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  I  am  the  most  popular  man 
here;35  but  still  I  am  tired  of  the  business.  Our  expenses  are 
enormous  &  the  fare  wretched.  We  will  get  through  in  about  a 
month.  I  will  hardly  get  off  at  Christmas,  but  I  send  a  Christmas 
greeting  to  you  all.  Greet  father,  Catherine,  Senath,  Emily,  Joe, 
Willie,  Cyrus,  little  Katy,36  Sam,  Heatty,  Jane,  Newt  &  Shiel37 
for  me.  Give  my  love  to  all  &  tell  them  I  wish  them  a  merry 
Christmas  &  a  happy  year.  If  I  [can  not  make]  a  flying  trip 
[home]  at  Christmas,  I  will  get  a  Christmas  gift  for  Senath, 
Emily,  &  the  little  ones. 

A  great  many  tell  me  they  want  my  book38  when  it  is  printed. 
Take  care  of  yourself,  my  dear  Mother,  for  I  want  you  to  live  to 
see  prosperity  of  your  children  &  be  happy  with  them. 
I  remain  your  affectionate  son, 
C.  H.  Wiley 
P.  S.    I  have  written  a  notice  of  Ningy's  death  &  sent  it  to  the 
Patriot. 

The  last  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley's  unpublished  papers  here 
given  is  of  unusual  interest  in  that  it  comes  from  the  American 
legation  at  Madrid  and  is  written  in  the  flowing  hand  of  the 
United  States  Minister  to  Spain,  D.  M.  Barringer.39 


35  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  he  is  writing  for  his  mother's  eye  alone. 

36  Catherine  Rankin's  baby  daughter,  baptized  Alice,  not  Catherine. 

37  Slaves. 

38  The  North-Carolina  Reader,  published  December,  1851,  by  Lippincott,  Grambo  &  Co., 
Philadelphia,  at  Wiley's  own  expense.  Until  the  1870's  this  book,  passing  through  a  number 
of  editions,  was  used  in  the  public  schools  of  North  Carolina,  "creating  and  fostering  a  new 
spirit  among  the  masses  of  the  people"  according  to  Stephen  B.  Weeks  in  "The  Beginnings 
of  the  Common  School  System  in  the  South;  or  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  and  the  Organiza- 
tion of  the  Common  Schools  in  North  Carolina" — The  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion for  the  Year  1806-97,  II,  1466.  Upon  assuming  the  superintendency  of  the  schools,  Wiley 
disposed  of  his  copyright  for  the  book  and  thus  voluntarily  gave  up  all  profits  from  the  sales. 

The  author  has  heard  her  mother  say  that  Calvin  Wiley  wrote  a  large  part  of  The  North- 
Carolina  Reader  after  the  day's  outside  duties  were  done,  in  the  living  room  of  the  old  home 
at  Woodbourne,  the  family  circle  gathered  with  him  around  the  open  wood  fire,  chatting  or 
reading   while   he  wrote. 

39  Daniel  M.  Barringer  of  Cabarrus  County  (1806-1876).  Lawyer,  congressman,  diplomat. 
Served  in  the  House  of  Commons,  1829-1835  and  two  more  terms  of  two  years  each  later  on. 
Member  of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives,  1843.  Appointed  minister  to  Spain 
in  1849  by  President  Taylor.  Member  of  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  in  1854. 
As  a  close,   though   unofficial,   adviser   of   Governor   John   W.    Ellis   and    Governor   Henry    T. 


102 


The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 


Legation  of  U.  S. 
Madrid,  Feby  20,  1853. 
My  dear  Sir: 

Absence  has  never  for  a  moment  diminished  the  deep  interest 
I  always  take  in  the  affairs  of  our  Common  and  highly  favoured 
Country — and  especially  in  whatever  concerns  the  welfare  of  our 
beloved  North  Carolina.  I  have  endeavored  to  keep  myself  con- 
stantly informed  of  whatever  transpires  within  her  borders,  and 
to  form  my  opinions  and  to  cherish  my  hopes  for  her  bright 
future,  as  if  I  were  actually  in  your  midst,  instead  of  being  in  a 
foreign  land. 

Among  the  events  which  have  recently  given  me  the  most  lively 
satisfaction  is  the  law  creating  a  General  Superintendent  of  Com- 
mon Schools  in  the  State,  and  your  own  appointment  to  that 
responsible  post. 

Having  been  among  the  earliest  of  the  friends  and  advocates 
of  a  well  regulated  system  of  Popular  Education  in  our  State,  at 
a  time  too  when  we  had  real  difficulties  to  encounter,  I  always 
entertained  the  opinion  that  such  an  officer  was  indispensable  to 
its  complete  success.  And  I  am  truly  gratified  that  the  appoint- 
ment has  been  alloted  to  one  every  way  worthy  of  its  honor, 
sensible  of  its  duties  and  responsibilities — so  well  qualified  by 
personal  knowledge  and  local  information  and  so  ardently  devoted 
to  a  cause,  which,  I  am  fully  persuaded,  lies  at  the  foundation  and 
is  the  only  sure  guaranty  of  our  popular  institutions. 

These  glorious  institutions,  allow  me  to  say,  foreign  residence 
&  a  nearer  knowledge  of  European  government  and  courts  have 
only  caused  me  to  admire  and  love  more  &  more  every  day  of  my 
life.  We  are  all  accustomed  not  only  in  schools  and  colleges  but 
before  the  assembled  "Sovereigns"  themselves  to  descant  upon 
the  "virtues  and  intelligence  of  the  people"  as  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  the 
only  means  of  their  preservation. 

But  I  have  never  so  fully  realized  the  force  of  this  just  senti- 
ment, regarded  almost  as  an  axiom  with  us,  till  I  lived  abroad  and 
have  seen  how  feeble  and  futile  and  almost  worthless  are  the  at- 
tempts at  self-government  and  true  liberty  without  a  previous 
education  and  knowledge  among  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
Without  such  preparation  there  will  be  little  private  and  less  pub- 
lic virtue — and  corruption  public  and  private  will  be  the  order  of 
the  day.  But  excuse,  I  pray  you,  this  digression.  My  chief  object 
in  this  note  was  to  offer  you  my  warm  congratulations  on  the  ap- 
pointment which  you  have  recently  received  from  the  Legislature 
and  to  express  my  hopes  and  convictions  your  efforts  will  result 
in  much  good  to  the  great  cause  we  all  have  so  much  at  heart. 

I  hope  to  be  able,  if  I  should  have  the  pleasure  to  meet  you  in 
our  part  of  the  State,  to  express  in  person  my  best  wishes  for 
your  success  sometime  during  the  present  year  when  it  has  long 

Clark,  he  played  considerable  part  in  public  affairs  with  devotion  to  the  Confederate  cause. 
In  1872  as  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  convention  he  advocated  the  nomination  of 
Horace  Greeley.  J.  G.  de  Roulhac  Hamilton,  "Barringer,  Daniel  Moreau,"  Dictionary  of 
American  Biography,  I,  648. 


Letters  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley  103 

been  my  desire  and  intention  to  return  to  the  U.  S.  and  to  which 
I  have  already  made  known  my  purpose  at  Washington. 

I  have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that  my  mission  here,  during  a 
most  critical  period  in  our  affairs  with  Spain,  has  received  the 
entire  approbation  of  our  government  &  I  believe,  so  far  as  they 
yet  have  been  enable  to  judge  of  its  results,  that  of  the  American 
people. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  very  truly  &  faithfully  your 

friend  and  obt.  Sert. 

D.  M.  Barringer. 


LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO 
ANDREW  JOHNSON 

Edited  By  Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

[Continued] 

From  Edward  W.  Hinks90 

Head  Quarters  Second  Military  District, 
Provost  Marshal  Generals  Office, 
Citadel,  Charleston  S.  C.  August  10,  1867 
Capt.  J.  C.  Clous 
A.  A.  A.  G 
2nd  Mil  Dist. 
Captain : 

I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Wm.  M.  Johnson  of  Rockingham  County,  N.  C.  who  deserted 
from  the  rebel  army  in  1863,  and,  being  closely  pressed  by  the 
Conscript  Officers  in  North  Carolina,  while  making  his  way  to 
the  Federal  lines,  entered  the  house  of  John  W.  Moore  of  Rock- 
ingham County,  North  Carolina,  during  the  night  of  the  24th 
Jany,  1863,  and  without  injuring,  or  offering  violence  to  any  per- 
son present,  took  therefrom  three  pieces  of  bacon,  of  the  value  of 
$5.00  (five  dollars),  and  some  other  small  articles  of  food,  and 
continued  his  flight  to  the  Federal  lines,  which  he  succeeded  in 
reaching;  and  subsequently  joined  the  10th  Tenn  Vols,  of  which 
he  was  appointed  1st  Lieut,  remaining  in  the  service  of  the  U.  S. 
until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Johnson  returned  to  his  home  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  and 
a  capias  for  his  arrest  was  issued  by  Judge  R.  B.  Gilliam,91  in 
March  1866  upon  which  he  was  arrested,  on  the  29th  April,  and 
brought  before  the  Court  to  answer  to  an  indictment  for  burglary 
which  had  been  found  against  him  by  the  Grand  Jury,  in  August 
1863,  for  entering  the  house  of  Moore  and  taking  food  therefrom 
while  on  his  way  to  the  Federal  lines,  as  herein  before  stated. 

On  the  application  of  Johnson,  the  case  was  removed  to  the 
County  of  Caswell,  North  Carolina  for  trial,  he  being  in  the  mean- 
time refused  bail. 

At  the  fall  term  of  the  Court  in  Caswell  County,  in  1866,  John- 
son was  tried  on  the  indictment  before  Judge  Daniel  J.  Fowle,  and 
was  found  guilty  of  burglary,  as  charged  in  the  bill  of  indictment, 
and  was  sentenced  to  be  hung  on  the  third  Friday  in  December. 

90  Edward  W.  Hincks  of  Massachusetts  was  commissioned  a  second  lieutenant  on  April  26, 
1861.  Four  days  later  he  became  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  Eighth  Massachusetts  Infantry 
and  on  May  16  he  was  made  a  colonel.  On  November  29,  1862,  he  was  promoted  to  brigadier 
general  and  he  was  retired  on  December  15,  1870.  He  died  on  February  4,  1894.  Heitman, 
Historical  Register  and  Dictionary  of  the  United  States  Army,  I,  532. 

91  Robert  B.  Gilliam  was  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  constitutional  convention  of 
1835  from  Granville  County  and  served  several  times  as  a  member  of  the  state  legislature, 
becoming  speaker  of  the  House  in  18G5.  In  1865  Governor  Holden  appointed  him  as  one  of 
the  provisional  judges  of  the  Superior  Court  to  which  post  he  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1865. 
Tn  1870  he  was  elected  as  the  successor  to  John  T.  Deweese  from  the  fourth  North  Carolina 
Congressional  district,  but  he  died  in  October  and  never  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of 
Congress,  Hamilton,  Reconstruction,  l'Zln,  145w,  280n,  405,  492w,  539.  Hamilton,  Correspond- 
ence of  Jonathan  Worth,  II,  1003,  1083. 

[104] 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  105 

The  defendant  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  at  the  Jany  term 
1867,  which  confirmed  the  judgment;  and  sentence  of  the  Su- 
perior Court. 

Under  the  date  of  April  27th.  1867,  Gov.  Worth  of  North  Caro- 
lina pardoned  Johnson,  unconditionally,  and  on  the  6th  day  of  May 
he  was  discharged  from  custody  by  Judge  Edward  Warren  of  the 
Superior  Court.92 

It  further  appears  that  Johnson  was  kept  chained  in  an  iron 
cage,  9  feet  square  and  6  feet  high,  without  fire,  and  with  in- 
sufficient clothing  during  the  whole  period  from  his  conviction 
until  his  release  in  May  1867,  and  was  a  subject  of  this  inhuman 
treatment  solely  because  of  his  having  served  in  the  Union  Army. 

I  recommend  that  the  Post  Commander  of  Greenboro,  N.  C.  be 
instructed  to  bring  the  Sheriff  and  Jailor  of  Caswell  County,  to 
trial  before  a  Post  Court,  as  constituted  by  circular  of  May  15th 
Head  Qrs  2nd  Mil  District,  for  cruel  and  inhuman  treatment  of 
Johnson,  and  that  the  said  Court  be  authorized  to  hear  and  de- 
termine any  suit  that  Wm.  M.  Johnson  may  bring  before  it  for 
damages. 

I  am  Captain 
With  respect 
(Signed)  Bvt.  Col  U.  S.  A. 

Provost  Marshal  General, 
2nd  Mil.  Dist. 

A  true  copy 
L.  V.  Caziarc 
A  D  C  Mil  D.t, 
Hedqrs  2nd  mily  Dist 
Nov.  11,  1867 

From  C        F  Sussdorff 

Winston  Forsythe  C°.  North  Carolina 

Aug.  26th.  1867. 
To  the  President  of  the  United  States 
Mr.  President, 

With  feelings  of  humble  trust  in  your  forbearance  and  kind 
heartedness,  I  venture  once  more  to  hold  communion  with  your 
Excellency  by  letter,  in  like  manner  a[s]  I  did  12  ms.  ago.  Ac- 
tuated by  a  true  love  of  my  adopted  country  my  soul  shall  speak 
to  yours  as  a  native  hero  and  patriot  in  truth  and  soberness.  At 
the  time  your  Excellency  passed  Warrenton  Depot  on  your  way  to 
Raleigh,  I  introduced  myself  to  you,  and  asked  if  you  could  recol- 
lect having  received  a  communication  through  your  lady  last 
Summer  from  a  person  of  my  name  &  you  replied  that  you  recol- 
lected something  about  it  &c.  I[t]  would  have  given  me  a  great 

92  Edward  J.  Warren  of  Beaufort  County  was  a  member  of  the  secession  convention  of 
1861  and  the  constitutional  convention  of  1867.  He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Worth  as  a 
judge  to  hold  a  court  of  oyer  and  terminer  in  Lenoir  County,  and  in  1868  he  was  a  candidate 
for  judge  of  the  Superior  Court.  In  1870  he  was  speaker  pro  tempore  of  the  state  Senate.  He 
was  considered  for  the  post  of  United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Joseph  C.  Abbott,  but 
Zebulon  B.  Vance  was  elected.  Hamilton,  Reconstruction,  121n,  145n,  280n,  536,  562;  Hamilton, 
Correspondence  of  Jonathan  Worth,  II,  968,  1003,  1083,  1171. 


106  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

deal  of  satisfaction  could  I  have  had  the  opportunity  by  having 
a  conversation  with  you,  but  this  was  out  of  the  question,  and 
therefore  permit  me  to  address  you  these  lines 

Well  Mr.  President  the  Union  which  we  loved  with  filial  af- 
fections, has  not  been  restored  as  we  all  fondly  hoped,  and  I  am 
afraid  never  will  be,  unless  the  people  north  come  forward  and 
acknowledge  that  your  plan  is  the  more  efficient,  speediest,  just 
and  magnanimous.  This  has  to  come  to  pass  or  this  government 
will  go  down  in  utter  destruction  and  anarchy.  My  whole  being 
yearns  for  a  restoration  of  fraternal  relations  between  the  aii- 
anated  sections,  but  how  are  the  Union  loving  people  treated? 
I  need  not  tell  your  Excellency.  When  one  contemplates  the  dis- 
closures recently  developed  in  conspiring  against  your  life  and 
high  office,  a  cold  shutter  creeps  through  one's  whole  system,  to 
think  that  such  wickedness  can  exist  in  a  Congress  of  the  U. 
States.  Yea !  I  say  Mr.  Johnson  those  that  dig  pitts  for  others  to 
fall  in  will  fall  into  it,  themselves.  I  know  and  I  feel  it  in  my  soul 
that  you  are  honest  and  true  in  all  you  have  said  to  Congress  con- 
cerning the  upholding  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  and 
nobody  can  make  me  think  otherwise. 

The  late  act  of  Congress  gives  the  "Registrars  plenary  powers 
and  they  use  them  with  a  will  and  their  option  of  course,  creating 
a  good  deal  of  hard  feeling  among  the  rejected,  many  of  whom 
would  have  contributed  heartyly  to  restoring  harmony  and  pros- 
perity. 

Sincerely  as  I  wish  for  a  "Reunion,"  I  doubt  whether  the  pres- 
ent "Act,"  in  force  will  do  it?  From  late  indications,  I  judge  that 
the  northern  People  will  yet  reject  the  whole  plan  of  radical 
reconstruction  and  adopt  a  policy  similar  to  yours  if  not  the  iden- 
tial  one.  Should  this  sceem  be  carried  through  nevertheless,  we 
will  have  then  no  States  ruled  and  formed  exclusively  by  negro 
votes,  and  there  is  no  getting  round  it 

I  can  well  imagine  how  all  this  turmoil  and  confusion  must 
worry  you  in  mind  and  body,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that  your  health 
continues  so  well,  yet  Mr.  Johnson  I  firmly  believe  that  a  Higher 
Power  than  man,  sustains  and  upholds  you,  because  those  that 
put  their  trust  in  God  and  humble  rely  upon  his  guidance  and 
protection  He  has  prommissed  He  will  in  no  ways  forsake  in  the 
hour  of  trial.  Think  of  King  David,  what  powerful  enemies  he  had 
to  content  with,  but  he  had  faith  in  the  Lord  and  He  put  them  all 
under  his  heels  at  last.  Even  the  gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  those  that  fear  and  love  the  Lord. 

Every  unprejudiced  man,  in  reading  your  public  documents 
must  acknowledge  that  you  have  pursued  a  truely  constitutional 
course,  and  the  masses  of  the  North  will  be  compelled  (as  you 
always  said) ,  to  fall  into  ranks,  and  will  yet  praise  you  and  bless 
you,  for  saving  the  Constitution.  At  this  time  down  here  in  the 
South,  it  is  almost  considered  treason  to  speak  well  of  our  Presi- 
dent and  had  Mr.  W.  W.  Holden,  the  power  as  he  has  the  will, 
those  opposed  to  him  would  fare  but  middling.  He  is  a  great 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  107 

radical  and  Anti  Administration  man,  he  petrayed  his  own  people 
and  leaves  no  stone  unturned  in  arraying  the  North  against  the 
South,  because  we  would  not  have  him  for  our  Governor.  Mr. 
President  do  you  blame  us  for  having  rejected  him,  when  he  has 
proved  a  broken  reed,  to  say  the  least,  do  you  also !  The  Radicals 
use  him  as  a  means,  but  they  have  no  confidence  in  him. 

The  true  hearted  Union  men  are  greatly  dejected  by  the  course 
affairs  are  taking,  in  as  much  as  they  had  expected  better  treat- 
ment from  Congress,  and  for  that  reason  are  becoming  very  luke- 
warm in  the  cause-  Many  would  become  Democrats  if  it  was  not 
for  the  name,  which  they  hate  beyond  believe.  For  my  own  part 
I  believe  that  the  country  can  only  become  prosperous  and  happy 
again  under  an  administration  that  advocates  Doctrines  similar 
to  the  pure  and  unadulterated  constitution  loving  Democrats-  If 
the  name  is  abnoxious,  then  call  it  something  else  and  I  will  give 
it  support. 

If  we  scan  the  political  Horizon,  is  there  not  every  prospect,  as 
things  are  managed  now,  to  have  both  blacks  and  whites  sepa- 
rated into  two  distinct  and  opposing  parties-  Negroes  will  be 
elected  to  office,  go  to  Congress  &c-  and  I  can  not  see  how  it  can 
be  prevented;  then  will  arise  an  animosity  against  the  negro  in 
the  North,  which  will  shake  this  country  to  the  Centre  and  may 
prove  the  extermination  of  the  poor  blacks.  With  these  sad  al- 
ternatives staring  us  in  the  face  it  is  possible  that  capital  will 
settled  among  us  or  emigrants  be  induced  to  come  from  either 
abroad  or  from  the  North.  Nobody  would  like  to  live  under  an 
overwhelming  negro  majority. 

Another  source  of  great  irritation  is  the  forcing  of  the  negro 
into  the  Jury  box.  This  will  be  the  bitterest  pill  to  swallow  after 
all  and  will  be  the  means  of  much  ill  will  towards  the  govern- 
ment. The  black  colour  of  a  negro  may  be  a  great  stumbling 
block  to  the  whites,  and  may  be  after  all,  only  prejudice  in  them, 
but  that  prejudice  will  not  be  removed  until  the  millenium  comes, 
let  the  Radicals  do  what  the[y]  please  they  cannot  make  the 
ethiopian  change  his  skin. 

Mr.  President,  I  trust  you  will  excuse  any  bad  writing,  I  am 
unused  to  it  but  I  could  not  help  speaking  a  kind  word  to  you  in 
your  difficult  situation.  May  The  Lord  of  Host  guide  and  protect 
you  and  keep  you  from  all  harm,  is  the  sincere  wish  of  your 
humble  servant. 

If  it  is  not  disagreable  to  you  to  hear  from  me  occassionaly 
please  signify  it  by  a  line  or  so 

From  C.        F  Sussdorff 

Winston  Forsythe  Co.  North  Carolina 

Aug.  28th.      1867. 
Mrs.  President  Johnson 
Dear  Madam, 

I  take  the  liberty  once  more  to  inclose  to  your  address  a  few 
lines  to  your  much  beloved  husband,  with  the  respectful  request, 


108  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

that  if  it  pleases  you  and  after  perusing  it  you  think  it  worth- 
while to  hand  it  to  the  President  to  do  so,  otherwise  to  destroy  it 
as  waste  paper.  I  would  not  deprive  him  one  moment  from  his 
recreation,  or  add  a  feather's  weight  to  his  duties,  by  this  com- 
munication, but  my  wish  and  intend  is  to  cheer  him  in  my  humble 
capacity,  for  he  has  a  rough  road  to  travel,  and  would  gladly 
assist  him  in  restoring  harmony  and  good  feeling  if  I  could.  To 
think  that  a  set  of  villians  conspired  against  his  life  and  station, 
makes  one  feel  horror  struck,  and  draws  every  christian  man  and 
woman  in  the  land  around  him  in  sympathy.  Human  sympathy  is 
a  frail  support  in  mental  or  bodyly  distress,  still  it  is  some  little 
encouragement  to  know,  that  you  have  it. 

The  bitterness  existing  between  the  parties  is  very  great  and 
where  and  how  it  will  end,  who  can  know  it? 

With  my  prayer  that  the  Lord  will  protect  you  and  all  your 
house,  I  subscribe  myself 

Your  very  humble  servant. 


From  Ellis  Malone      M.  D. 

Louisburg  N.  C.  August  30th  1867 
Mr.  President 

I  know  you  must  be  almost  overwhelmed  with  business  &  hence 
I  dislike  to  tax  your  time  even  to  send  a  letter.  I  am  no  politician, 
never  have  been.  I  have  always  kept  myself  posted  in  relation 
to  the  affairs  of  the  Country.  I  am  62  years  old,  have  practiced 
medicine  all  my  life  untill  some  10  years  ago  when  I  retired  from 
the  active  duties  of  my  profession.  I  thought  I  had  enough  of 
this  worldly  goods  for  me  &  my  four  children  &  my  wife  which 
should  have  been  named  first- 

The  accursed  war  has  robed  me  of  nearly  all  I  had  made  &  I  am 
now  practicing  physic  [ian]  to  help  me  support  my  family-I  am 
a  Mason-R,  A,  M  have  been  master  of  the  lodge  in  this  place  for 
8  or  10  years  consecutively-am  now  high  priest  of  the  R  A  chap- 
ter of  this  place  &  have  been  for  many  years-I  am  glad  to  see  that 
you  too  are  a  Mason  and  as  a  Mason  &  as  President  of  the  U.  S. 
I  address  you.  I  have  no  one  in  Washington  City  to  refer  you  to 
for  my  standing  in  my  community  &  hence  the  above  statement 
Gen1  Howard  the  head  of  the  Negro  Beaureau,  knowing  me,  was 
at  my  house  and  partook  of  my  hospitality  &  knows  my  loyalty 
to  the  Constitution  &  the  laws  of  the  U.  S. 

I  was  as  much  opposed  to  secession  &  every  thing  that  con- 
tributed to  the  late  unhappy  &  wicked  war  as  any  man  could  be 
&  yet  having  been  a  magistrate  38  years  ago  &  having  furnished 
a  son  a  horse  to  join  the  cavalry  service  during  the  late  war,  to 
which  he  volunteered  to  save  himself  from  conscription  I  am 
disfranchised  but  enough  of  this.  There  is  an  impending  crisis 
hanging  over  us  of  which  I  am  satisfied  you  nor  any  of  the  people 
North  are  Conversant-The  negroes  though  they  worked  badly 
yet  behaved  themselves  remarkably  well  untill  some  ten  months 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  109 

ago-Emisaries  black  and  white,  from  the  north  and  some  meaner 
white  men  in  our  midst  have  been  at  work  with  them  and  have 
excited  them,  by  inflamatory  speeches  &  teachings  with  promises 
of  confiscation  of  lands  for  their  benefit  joining  into  leagues 
&  swearing  them  to  support  only  radical  leaders  &  to  other 
things  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  Country  untill 
now  &  for  some  time  back  they  have  become  bold  defiant  impu- 
dent &  threatening  to  such  an  extent  that  all  thinking  men  here 
see  that  a  conflict  of  races  is  inevitable-  Two  months  ago  young 
Holden  Son  of  W  W  Holden  came  out  here  and  addressed  a  large 
crowd  of  colored  people.  I  with  several  respectable  gentlemen 
went  out  to  hear  him.  His  speech  was  a  most  inflamatory  &  in- 
cendary  one  &  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  calculated  if  not 
intended  to  excite  the  negro  against  the  white  man  as  neces- 
sarily to  bring  on  a  conflict  between  them-I  am  as  satisfied  as 
I  can  be  of  any  thing  that  has  not  already  transpired  that  if 
things  go  on  as  now  existing  &  has  been  going  on  for  some  months 
that  a  bloody  strife  is  before  us,  such  as  one  as  no  good  man  can 
contemplate  without  horrow.  What  adds  to  the  certainty  of  this 
thing  is  that  in  every  conflict  now  between  the  white  &  black 
which  occurs  the  military  &  the  freedmans  Beaureau  protect  the 
black  &  fine  &  imprison  the  white  man.  This  is  obliged  to  em- 
bolden the  negro  in  outrage.  I  could  if  this  paper  would  allow  of 
it  give  you  cases  that  I  know  would  arouse  your  indignation.  And 
I  assure  you  upon  the  honor  of  a  man  and  a  Mason-that  the  white 
people  so  far  as  I  know  are  willing  to  give  the  negro  all  the  rights 
he  is  entitled  to  under  the  law.  Thousands  of  people  like  myself 
are  disfranchised,  who  had  no  part  in  Cecession  or  the  war  & 
unfortunately  many  who  could  register  will  not  do  it.  Whats  the 
use  they  say  we  are  ruined  the  north  intends  to  keep  us  so  & 
they  have  the  power  &  will  do  it.  I  know  this  aught  not  to  be  so 
&  so  do  you,  but  but  they  cant  be  reasoned  out  of  it  &  the  regis- 
tration now  going  on  in  this  County  (the  board  Consisting  of  two 
negroes  and  one  white  man.  One  of  the  negroes  an  illiterate  black- 
smith) shows  that  they  (the  negro)  will  have  a  majority  of 
probably  250  to  300  majority  whereas  if  all  could  register  &  vote 
the  negro  would  be  in  the  minority-&  they  are  almost  every  one 
sworn  to  support  the  radical  ticket  &  Holden  for  the  next  Gov- 
ernor-Should that  ever  happen-a  worse  state  than  that  of  Ten- 
nessee is  ours-I  fear  you  will  think  my  fears  are  father  to  my 
thought.  The  Lord  grant  it  may  be  so.  No  yankee  that  lives  among 
us  will  believe  such  a  thing  as  a  war  of  races  can  happen-Every 
intelligent  and  thinking  man  I  meet  an  [d]  converse  with  think  as 
I  say  to  you  above-we  feel  that  we  are  standing  upon  a  volcano- 
&  most  of  us  would  get  away  if  we  could-but  those  who  have  a 
little  left  cant  sell  &  can  not  get  money  to  move  away  I  assure 
you  that  if  I  could  git  one  half  the  real  worth  of  what  property  I 
had  left  me  in  cash  I  would  not  stay  here  any  longer  than  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  get  away- Where  would  you  go  Any  where 
to  get  away  from  a  negro  rule  a  negro  insurrection  the  negro  en- 
couraged by  the  Military  &  Freedmans  Beaureau  and  the  north- 


110  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

ern  emisaries  white  &  black  who  are  here  fanning  the  flame  of 
prejudice  &  hate  &  revenge  as  well  as  some  whites  among  us  for 
self  aggrandizement  &  for  bitter  revenge 

Excuse  me  Mr.  President  I  have  written  to  you  hurridly-but 
what  I  have  written  are  the  words  of  truth  &  soberness-what  I 
know  and  so  honestly  believe-I  dont  know  that  you  can  do  to 
save  us  and  our  wives  &  children  the  fate  refered  to  above-If 
any  thing  can  be  done  humanity  requires  it  should  be  done  &  done 
quickly  or  it  will  be  too  late  with  sentimenst  of  sincere  esteem  & 
respect 

I  am  sir,  Your  respectfully  &  C 

Dr.  Sir  Will  you  please  have  this  read  the  President  Hon.e  A 
Johnson  I  take  this  course  fearing  he  might  not  get  it  in  the 
ordinary  way 

E.  Malone 
One  of  your  subscribers- 

From  Jonathan  Worth 

Copy 

State  of  North  Carolina 
Executive  Department 
Raleigh  Sept  10th  1867. 
Maj.  Genl  E.  R.  S.  Canby 
Mil  Com  at  2nd  District. 
Charleston  S.  C. 
General 

I  respectfully  submitt  for  your  consideration  a  few  suggestions 
touching  the  orders  of  Genl  Sickles,  several  of  which  I  think 
ought  to  be  revoked  or  essentially  modified.93 

I  suppose  his  Order  No-  32  was  intended  to  prevent  any  dis- 
crimination against  color,  in  the  making  up  of  our  Juries.  Our 
existing  laws  in  this  State  make  no  such  discrimination-  and  so 
long  as  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  is  recognized  as  law  (and  it  is  rec- 
ognized by  all  the  authorities  of  this  State)  the  negro  being  made 
a  citizen  has  all  the  rights  and  privileges  as  to  serving  on  juries 
which  belong  to  the  white  citizens,  but  our  laws  have  always  re- 
quired a  freehold  qualification  in  a  juror. 

According  to  our  laws  the  Justices  of  the  County  Courts  are 
required  from  time  to  time  to  review  the  list  of  free  holders  and 
cast  out  such  freeholders  as  they  deem  unfit  to  serve  on  jurors  by 
reason  of  incapacity,  bad  character  or  other  cause-and  out  of  the 
list  of  free  holders  thus  purged,  to  draw  and  cause  to  be  drawn 
names  of  jurors  for  all  our  Courts  of  Record  Our  juries  have  con- 
sequently been  composed  of  discreet  men  of  fair  intelligence. 

Under  the  order  of  Genl  Sickles,  the  Justices  are  required  from 
the  list  of  those  who  shall  have  been  assessed  and  who  shall  have 


93  On  August  14,  Governor  Worth  wrote  Judge  Gilliam  that  he  was  trying  to  get 
General  Sickles  to  modify  his  orders  relative  to  juror  service  so  as  not  to  admit  any  but 
"a  freeholder  to  serve  on  the  jury."  Hamilton,  Correspondence  of  Jonathan  Worth,  II, 
1034-1035. 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  111 

paid  a  tax  this  year,  to  draw  our  juries.  They  are  not  allowed  to 
cast  out  any  tax-payer  however  ignorant  or  debased  his  moral 
character. 

To  say  nothing  of  negroes,  juries  drawn  from  the  whites  only 
under  this  order,  would  not  be  fit  to  pass  on  the  rights  of  their 
fellowmen.  In  this  State  we  collect  a  poll  tax.  It  is  a  small  tax 
almost  any  citizen  can  pay  it.  Some  have  maintained  that  the 
word  "assessed"  applies  only  to  a  property  tax.  The  Genl  told  me 
he  meant  it  to  embrace  those  who  had  paid  any  tax  either  on  the 
poll  or  on  property. 

When  Chief  Justice  Chase  held  his  Court  here  in  June,  he 
ordered  the  Marshall  to  summon  Citizens  as  jurors,  without  dis- 
crimination as  to  Color,  being  otherwise  qualified  according  to 
the  laivs  of  the  State. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  appreciate  Genl  Sickles  reasoning  on 
this  subject.  We  have  hitherto  regarded  trial  by  jury  as  one  of 
the  chief  safe-guards  of  liberty.  With  juries  constituted  according 
to  his  order,  few  of  us  would  hereafter  have  any  respect  for 
this  mode  of  trial. 

At  our  County  Courts  happening  next  after  the  1st  day  of  Oc- 
tober, juries  will  be  drawn  conformably  to  this  order,  unless  you 
shall  revoke  or  modify  it. 

The  order  creating  a  Provost  Court  in  Fayetteville  composed 
of  three  Civilians,  machinists  by  trade,  neither  of  them  ever  hav- 
ing read  the  law  or  even  so  superficially,  with  jurisdiction  over 
five  Counties  as  to  all  Civil  suits  and  I  believe  all  crimes  not 
capitally  punished.  I  regard  it  as  the  most  extraordinary  tribunal 
ever  established  in  this  Country  for  the  administration  of  justice. 

I  have  not  heard  of  anybody,  not  even  the  most  prejudicial 
officers  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  who  pretended  that  justice 
has  not  been  impartially  and  intelligently  administered  in  our 
Superior  Courts  of  Law.  I  have  not  heard  of  a  solitary  instance 
where  unfairness  or  partiality  has  been  imputed  to  them.  There 
has  doubtless  been  some  different  representation  made  to  Genl 
S.  by  some  malevolent  partizan,  but  I  have  no  idea  any  respecta- 
ble person  has  made  such  imputation. 

You  must  readily  perceive  what  confusion  must  arise  where 
the  intricacies  of  the  law  are  to  be  awarded,  or  records  touching 
the  rights  of  the  citizens  kept  by  such  a  Court-  I  think  no  good- 
nothing  but  mischief  can  flow  from  this  tribunal  and  I  earnestly 
urge  its  immediate  abolition. 

If  you  be  unwilling  from  this  representation  to  abolish  the 
tribunal  without  further  investigation,  then  I  respectfully  ask 
to  be  informed  upon  what  representation  it  was  created,  to  the 
end  that  I  may  offer  to  you  counter  evidence  showing  the  in- 
expediency of  the  establishment  and  continuance  of  such  Court. 


I  have  the  honor  to  be 
Yours  very  Respectfully 
Governor  of  N.  C. 


112  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Copy 

Maj.  Gen  E.  R.  S.  Canby.  State  of  North  Carolina. 

Mil  Com  at  2lld.  Dist  Executive  Department. 

Charleston  S.  C.  Raleigh  Septr  11,  1867. 

General. 

I  inclose  to  you  a  communication  from  Fred  L.  Roberts,  and 
others-all  gentlemen  of  high  character  for  intelligence  and  honor 
for  such  action  on  your  part  as  you  may  deem  proper.94 

When  there  is  no  pretence  by  any  body,  so  far  as  I  have  heard, 
that  justice  is  not  impartially  administered  in  all  of  our  Superior 
Courts  of  Law,  I  cannot  conceive  why  so  many  Military  arrests 
have  been  made  in  the  State.  They  would  be  much  less  exception- 
able, if,  at  the  time  of  the  arrest,  the  charges  were  made  known 
and  a  preliminary  trial  had  been  incarceration. 

This  power  of  Military  arrest  has  been  most  oppressively  exer- 
cised, in  this  State.  One  example  of  it  was  the  arrest  of  Duncan 
G.  McRae,  of  Fayetteville,  some  months  ago.  He  was  seized, 
carried  to  a  distant  Military  prison,  Fort  Macon,  and  detained  a 
prisoner  some  two  or  three  months,  without  notice  of  the  ac- 
cusation against  him.  He  was  not  permitted  to  give  bail,-  nor  to 
go  on  his  parol.  He  was  finally  brought  to  trial  before  the  Mili- 
tary Court  here,  in  which  General  Avery  is  Judge  Advocate.  He 
was  charged  with  murder  on  the  affidavit  of  a  base  woman  in  Fay- 
etteville. Genl  Avery  procured  his  arrest  upon  the  affidavit  of 
this  vile  woman.  There  was  no  other  evidence  against  him.  Be- 
sides her  bad  character,  every  material  fact  in  her  statement  was 
proved  to  be  false  by  the  most  plenary  evidence.  When  brought 
to  trial  the  evidence  of  this  woman  was  so  manifestly  false,  that 
the  Court  discharged  him  without  examining  his  witnesses.  He 
is  an  old  and  highly  respectable  man,  I  have  never  heard  any 
citizen,  white  or  black,  respectable  or  ignoble,  who  entertained  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  his  guilt,  excepting  Genl  Avery,  and  the 
base  woman  on  whose  affidavit  the  arrest  was  made. 

I  think  that  public  justice  and  sound  policy  alike  forbid  the 
trial  of  citizens  before  Military  Court  unless  there  be  good  ground 
to  believe  that  justice  will  not  be  administered  by  our  Courts. 

In  the  particular  case  referred  to  in  the  inclosed  petition,  if 
there  be  any  evidence  against  any  of  the  parties,  there  would  be 
no  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  Civil  authorities  of  the  State  to 
indict  and  punish  them. 

If  the  Military  have  knowledge  of  such  evidence,  why  should 
they  not  make  it  known  to  the  Civil  authorities,  and  resort  to  a 
Military  trial  only  when  the  Civil  authorities  decline  to  act. 

The  Superior  Court  of  Law  sits  in  Chowan,  in  which  County 
the  alleged  offence  occurred,  on  2nd  Monday  after  the  4th  Monday 
of  this  month.  I  hope  the  trial  of  these  men  will  be  turned  over  to 
that  Court.  I  will  guaranty  that  the  Solicitor  for  that  circuit  will 
summon  and  examine  every  witness  the  Military  may  designate 

04  For  further  details  on  the  subject,  see  General  Canby's  letter  of  September  17,  p.  117. 
A  letter  from  Governor  Worth  on  the  subject,  dated  November  30,  1867,  is  to  be  published 
subsequently. 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  113 

and  that  a  fair  and  impartial  trial  will  be  had-and  that  in  the 
meantime  they  may  be  released  from  imprisonment,  on  giving 
bail  in  any  amount  the  Post  Commander  may  deem  adequate  to 
insure  their  appearance. 

Immediately  after  the  escape  of  Pratt,  I  offered  a  reward  for 
his  apprehension. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 
Yours  very  Respectfully, 
Governor  of  N.  C. 


From  Fred  L.  Roberts  and  others 

Copij  [Sept  11,  1867] 

To  His  Excellency 
Jonathan  Worth 
Governor  &C 

Sir 

A  short  time  since  six  white  men,  Whitaker  Myers,  James 
Harrell,  Wm.  White,  Sr.,  Isaac  White,  John  White,  and  Wm  White 
Jr.  respectable  and  good  citizens  of  Perquimans  County  was 
arrested  and  carried  off  by  parties  claiming  to  act  under  author- 
ity from  Maj.  Genl.  Sickles.  They  were  removed  to  Plymouth  on 
the  Str.  Emilie,  in  charge  of  Col  Hincks,  Provost  Marshall  Gen- 
eral of  the  2nd  Military  District  and  it  has  been  several  times 
reported,  have  from  that  time  been  made  to  work  on  the  Streets 
and  other  public  places  under  a  negro  guard 

No  explanation  of  the  arrest,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  has 
been  made,  tho  it  has  been  reported  in  this  Community,  that  they 
were  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  engaged  in  releasing  Thomas 
Pratt  from  jail. 

A  brief  statement  may  be  necessary.  Pratt  was  sometime  since 
arrested  by  the  Civil  authorities  of  Chowan  County  on  the  charge 
of  killing  one  James  Norcom  (freedman) .  He  was  promptly  im- 
prisoned by  the  Civil  authorities  before  the  negro  died,  and  after 
remaining  in  jail  sometime,  was,  as  represented  by  the  jailer, 
forcibly  taken  therefrom,  giving  some  named  night-by  ten  or 
fifteen  men,  whom  he  was  unable  to  identify,  or  even  recognize 
as  black  or  white. 

If  the  parties  arrested  are  guilty  of  so  flagrant  a  violation  of 
law,  we  think  we  represent  the  sentiment  of  the  community  in 
saying  that  they  should  and  on  due  conviction  will  be  punished, 
and  we  are  confident  that  a  people  so  guilty  and  highly  extolled 
for  justice,  obedience  to  law,  and  honor  by  Maj.  Genl.  Sickles,  as 
the  people  of  North  Carolina  are,  will  never  fail  in  the  discharge 
of  any  loyal  or  moral  obligation.  And  we  think  that  as  the  offence 
is  said  to  have  been  committed  in  the  State  of  N.  C.  and  is  one 
against  our  laws,  the  Civil  authorities  should  have  jurisdiction. 
We  don't  think  that  the  Military  authorities  can  charge  any  in- 
diffierence  or  tardiness  of  action  to  the  Civil  authorities  of  Cho- 


114  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

wan  or  Perquimans  Counties,  for  in  every  instance  within  our 
knowledge  they  have  acted  promptly  and  impartially. 

In  deed  in  the  very  matter  against  Pratt,  we  understand  that 
Lt  Col  Bentgoni,  expressed  himself  highly  gratified  with  their 
prompt  and  inpartial  action. 

So  far  as  it  has  been  ascertained  there  is  not  a  particle  of  evi- 
dence against  any  one  of  the  parties  arrested,  who  lived  con- 
siderable distance  from  Pratt,  and  from  Edenton,  but  unfortu- 
nately were  either  relatives  or  acquaintances. 

Indeed  in  the  case  of  Myers,  his  only  relative  arrested,  it  is  a 
well  ascertained  fact  that  he  was  sick  at  home  on  the  night  of 
Pratt's  escape,  and  it  is  confidentially  asserted  that  on  alibi  can 
be  forwared  in  favor  of  all  the  others. 

We,  therefore  citizens  of  Chowan  and  Perquimans  Counties 
respectfully  petition  your  Excellency  to  take  such  action  in  the 
matter,  that  the  accused  may  either  be  turned  over  to  the  Civil 
authorities  or  have  a  speedy  trial  by  Military  authorities  and 
not  be  punished  until  they  are  convicted. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be 
Fred  L.  Roberts  J.  E.  Leary 

Wm  Bembury  Aug.  M.  Moore 

Wm  R.  Skinner  J.  F.  Gilbert 

P.  F.  White  C.  W.  Norcom 

W.  C.  Jones  W.  A.  B.  Norcom 

L.  P.  Warren  S.  I.  Skinner 

J.  E.  Norfleet  David  A.  Halley 

N.  S.  Perkins  W.  H.  Hughes 


From  John  B.  Weaver95 

Collector's  Office 
United  States  Internal  Revenue 
Seventh  District,  North  Carolina. 
Asheville,  11th  Sept  1867 
I  take  this  opportunity  of  certifying  that  I  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  several  of  the  petitioners  in  this  case  and  from  my 
knowledge  of  the  men  I  have  not  any  doubt  of  the  correctness  of 
the  statements-  My  knowledge  of  the  plaintif's  counsel  also  con- 
firms this  belief.  Wm  Henderson  the  second  petitioner  was  my 
hospital  Steward  while  I  was  acting  as  Surgeon  of  the  2nd  N.°  Ca. 
mounted  Infantry96 

Collector  7th  Dist. 
N.°  C.a 


95  Most  of  the  collectors  of  internal  revenue  were  carpetbaggers  and  defaulters.  Among 
these  was  John  B.  Weaver  of  the  sixth  North  Carolina  district,  who  according  to  the  news- 
papers was  in  arrears  in  the  amount  of  $59,125.47.  Hamilton,  Reconstruction,  417-418. 

96  The  petition  of  Henderson  and  others  is  dated  July  20,  1867.  See  previous  installment 
of  "Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson,"  The  North  Carolina  Historical 
Review,  XXVIII  (October,  1951),  504.  During  the  Civil  War  General  Lee  was  much  disturbed 
about  the  desertion  of  soldiers  to  the  Union  army  in  western  North  Carolina.  According 
to  available  evidence  in  the  Andrew  Johnson  Papers,  Madison  County  had  many  Union 
sympathizers.  See  W.  W.  Rollin's  letter  of  September  15,  1867,  p.  116,  and  others  pertaining 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  115 

From  Alexander  H.  Jones97 

Asheville  N.  C.  Sept.  11,  1867, 
Gen.  Canby 
Dear  Sir: 

The  accompanying  petition  has  been  presented  to  me  with  the 
request  that  I  make  such  a  stat  [e]  ment  in  reff erence  to  the  mat- 
ter as  I  deem  just  and  proper.  I  know  nothing  personally  as  to 
the  statements  of  the  occurence,  but  know  the  relations  of  the 
parties,  as  setforth,  to  be  true,  and  that  the  general  c[h]aracter 
of  the  man  Merrell  to  be  that  of  a  desporado,  and  that  some  of 
your  petitioners  with  whom  I  am  personally  acquainted  are  good 
citizens  and  of  good  c[h]aracter.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  but 
the  petitoners  can  readily  substantiate  all  set  forth  in  their  peti- 
tion, and  in  my  humble  opinion  it  would  be  an  act  of  justice  to 
quash  the  proceedings  against  the  parties. 

At  the  time  of  the  occurrence  much  excitement  prevailed 
throughout  this  mountain  section  of  country,  and  the  man  Mer- 
rell belonged  to  a  class  of  men  whose  hatred  of  the  Union  and  its 
friends  prompted  much  of  such  conduct  and  outrages,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  have  to  add,  in  giving  my  opinion,  that  the  predudices 
produced  by  the  rebellion  has  so  much  embittered  the  feelings 
of  many  who  have  the  administering  of  the  laws,  as  to  render  it 
difficult  for  the  Unionists  to  obtain  justice  in  our  courts,  and 
further,  that  it  is  my  opinion  that  this  very  action  has  been  in- 
stigated by  lawyers  most  bitter  in  their  feelings  against  the 
United  States  Government  and  its  friends.  Under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances it  is  certainly  imprudent  to  implicate  the  motives  of 
the  courts  of  justice,  But  when  cases  appear  so  glareing  as  to 
require  the  interpretation  of  higher  power  not  only  in  acts  of 

to  lawlessness   in   Madison   County   and   the   interference   in   behalf   of   the   Unionists   by   the 

military  authorities.  Also  the  following  letter. 

Genl. 

I  have  previously  stated  to  you  the  importance  of  clearing  the  mountains  &  Country  in 
your  dept:  of  deserters,  absentees  etc-  I  hope  you  will  now  be  able  to  accomplish  it-  No  time 
should  be  lost  in  setting  on  foot  the  complete  reorganization  of  your  Command  &  the  regula- 
tion of  all  matters  pertaining  to  your  Dept  - 

A  letter  has  recently  been  referred  to  me  by  the  Secr  War,  from  the  Honb,e  C.  G.  Mem- 
inger,  who  is  now  residing  at  Flat  Rock  N.  C.  giving  a  lamentable  account  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  citizens  in  that  section  of  Country,  from  the  conduct  of  deserters,  traitors  &-  I  have 
previously  instructed  Gen1  Martin  to  employ  all  the  force  under  his  Command,  Cols.  Palmers 
&  Thomas,  troops  in  destroying  these  bandette  &  their  haunts.  I  have  now  repeated  these 
instructions  &  suggest  that  a  combined  movement  might  be  made  to  advantage,  by  the 
Reserves  in  S.C.  his  own  troops  in  N.C.  &  a  portion  of  yours,  &  directed  him  to  com- 
municate with  you  on  the  subject-  If  nothing  should  prevent  &  the  plan  be  practicable,  I 
request  that  you  will  cooperate  with  him-  My  resp* 

R  E   Lee 
Gen 
Gen1  J.  C.  Breckenridge 
Commr 

Robert  E.  Lee  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 

97  Alexander  Hamilton  Jones  (July  21,  1822- January  29,  1901)  was  born  in  Buncombe 
County;  engaged  in  mercantile  business  prior  to  the  Civil  War;  enlisted  in  the  Union  army 
in  1863;  was  captured  in  east  Tennessee  while  raising  a  regiment  of  Union  soldiers;  was 
Imprisoned  at  Asheville,  Libby  Prison  in  Richmond,  and  elsewhere;  made  his  escape  on 
November  14,  1864,  and  joined  the  Union  forces  in  Cumberland,  Maryland;  returned  to 
North  Carolina  after  the  Civil  War  and  was  a  member  of  the  convention  of  1865;  elected 
as  a  Republican  to  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  but  was  not  permitted  to  qualify;  upon  the 
readmission  of  North  Carolina  in  the  Union  he  was  elected  and  served  in  Congress  from 
July  6,  1868,  to  March  3,  1871;  lived  in  Asheville,  1884-1890;  later  moved  to  Oklahoma  and 
California.  Biographical  Directory  of  the  American  Congress,  1774-1927,  1159. 


116  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

commission  but  of  omission  of  duty  also,  we  should  not  shut  our 
eyes  against  a  remedy. 

I  hesitate  not  to  give  it  as  my  opinion  that  four  fifths  of  the 
citizens  of  the  county  in  which  the  occurrence  took  place,  be- 
lieve the  prosecution  to  be  unjust,  and  that  the  object  is  to  harass 
the  parties  and  run  them  to  cost  and  expense,  I  am  personally  well 
acquainted  with  Maj :  W.  W.  Rollins  who  served  in  the  Union 
Army  against  the  rebellion  in  the  third  Regiment  of  North  Caro- 
lina volunteers,  whose  certifficate  accompanies  the  petition,  and 
who  is  entirely  trustworthy  gentleman. 

Very  Respectfully, 

Editor  of  Asheville  Pioneer 
and 

Member  elect  to  the  39th  Congress 
Respectfully  submitted 
To  Genl  Canby 
Commanding 
2d  Military  Dist 


From  W.       W.  Rollins98 

Marshall  N.  C. 

Sept  15th  1867. 
Major  Genl  Canby 
Comdg  2nd  Mily  Dist. 
Genl 

I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  Statement,  that  I  am 
a  resident  of  Madison  County  and  have  been  for  ten  years  that  I 
was  personally  acquainted  with  Ransom  P  Merril[l]  late  Sheriff 
of  Madison  County  and  am  personally  acquainted  with  J  J  Guder 
W  A  Henderson  H  A  Barnard  Thos  J  Rector  Wm  R  McNew  M.  W 
Roberts-who  have  each  signed  a  petition  asking  relief  from  a 
prosecution  against  them  in  the  State  courts  of  North  Carolina 
as  being  accessory  in  the  Killing  of  said  Ransom  P  Merill"  I  know 
that  Merril[l]  was  a  desperate  man  and  provoked  Neely  Tweed 
to  Kill  him  by  shotting  Tweeds  son  without  cause  or  provocation. 
Merril[l]  sent  his  son  to  an  election  ground  and  his  son  swore 
that  no  Dam  Tory  or  Black  Republican  could  vote  on  the  ground 
and  that  his  father  had  gone  to  Marshall  and  no  Dam  Tory  could 
vote  there-  All  the  Merill  Family  are  bitter  rebels  yet.  I  was 
taken  down  from  making  a  union  speach  on  the  day  of  election 
by  Merril's  son  and  on  a  ground  of  desperados- 

98  Rollins  joined  forces  with  Holden  and  the  carpetbag  regime  in  the  state.  When  Holden 
decided  upon  a  reign  of  terror  in  1870,  he  invited  Rollins  to  enlist  forty-five  or  fifty  stout 
mountaineers  to  be  placed  on  equal  footing  with  regular  soldiers.  Rollins  wisely  declined 
and  recommended  George  W.  Kirk  for  the  post.  In  1870  Rollins  was  a  candidate  for  the 
House  of  Representatives,  but  he  was  defeated  by  the  refusal  of  the  election  officers  to  count 
the  votes  of  the  men  under  Kirk  who  were  on  duty  in  Caswell  and  Alamance  counties  at 
the  time  of  the  election  in  Madison  County.  Hamilton,  Reconstruction,  498-499,  535;  Arthur, 
Western  North  Carolina,  449,  462,  466-467. 

99  See  petition  of  July  20,  1867,  in  "Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson," 
The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review,  XXVIII    (October,  1951),  504. 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  117 

I  am  fully  and  personally  acquainted  with  the  facts  setforth 
by  your  petitoners  and  know  them  to  be  true  and  that  I  know 
they  were  all  union  men  some  of  them  had  sons  under  me  in  the 
Federal  army  And  that  I  do  not  believe  men  of  their  union  record 
could  get  Justice  in  the  State  Courts  as  they  are  now  organized. 
As  a  general  thing  the  union  mussey  are  excluded  from  the  juror 
box  and  the  Rebels  put  in  and  that  I  have  no  doubt  but  on  Mili- 
tary investigation  of  the  whole  matter  would  relieve  your  peti- 
tioners from  further  cost  or  trouble  and  with  whole  matter 
justice- 

As  the  matter  is  now  prosecuted  is  malicious  as  they  are  well 
aware.  But  your  petitioner  [s]  are  men  of  property,  and  they  the 
heirs  of  meril[l]  get  their  suit  through  under  the  free  courts — 

Your  obt  Servant 
Late  major  3d  N  C  Mtd  Inft  U  S 


From  Edward  R.  S.  Canby100 

Head  Quarters  2nd  Military  Dist. 
Charleston  S.  C.  Sept.  17th  1867. 
His  Excellency 
Governor  of  North  Carolina 
Raleigh  N.  C. 
Sir. 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  communi- 
cation of  the  11th-  inst  and  its  enclosures. 

On  the  night  of  the  28th  of  July  last  the  jail  at  Edenton  N.  C. 
was  entered  and  a  prisoner-Thomas  Pratt-who  was  then  confined 
for  the  murder  of  Jas  Norcross,  was  taken  out  by  an  armed  party 
of  persons  unknown.  Detectives  were  put  upon  the  trace  of  the 
guilty  parties,  who  succeeded  in  ferreting  them  out  and  they  were 
arrested  and  turned  over  to  the  Comdg  Officer  at  Plymouth  N.  C. 
until  the  civil  authorities  could  try  them.  The  Commanding 
Officer  of  the  Post,  was  authorized  to  take  bail  for  them,  if  it 
should  be  offered. 

I  see  no  ground  for  complaint  in  the  fact  that  persons  charged 
with  crime  have  been  arrested  by  the  military  authorities  and  are 
held  in  custody  until  the  Civil  authorities  are  prepared  to  try 
them. 

Very  Respectfully,  Sir, 
Your  Obt.  Servant. 

Bvt.  Major  General  Commanding 
A  true  copy 
A.  D.  C.    A.  A.  A.  G. 


100  On   August   26.    1867,    President   Johnson    removed    General    Sickles    from    the    command 
of  troops  in  North  Carolina  and  appointed  General  Canby   in  his  stead. 


118  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

From  Rufus  S.  Tucker101 

Raleigh  N  C 
Sept  21,  1867 
President  Johnson 
Dr  Sr. 

I  am  compiling  the  speeches  of  the  Hon'l  David  L  Swain,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Completion  of  the  monument  to  Jacob  Johnson  & 
at  the  Dedication  of  "Tucker  Hall"  The  work  will  be  gotten  up  in 
a  neat  style,  and  includes  Maps ;  charts,  &  other  matter  relative  to 
the  Early  Times  of  Raleigh:102 

Enclosed  please  find  the  first  36  pages :  Any  Contribution  you 
may  feel  disposed  to  make,  will  be  repaid  in  copies  of  the  work,  I 
propose  Completing  the  Book  in  about  three  weeks. 

Trusting  your  administration  may  tend  to  the  permanent  Set- 
tlement of  our  present  unhappy  difficulties.  I 

Remain  yours  truly 
Son  of  Ruffin  Tucker  Deed 
An  Early  answer  is  respectfully  requested  to  enable  us  to  go  on 
with  the  work 

Respt 
R  ST 

From  Hiram  Hulin 

Troy  N.  C. 

Sept  28th  1867 
Col  M  Cogwell  Commanding  the  Post  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C.103 
Sir 

Permit  me  to  address  a  line  to  you  in  which  I  ask  your  opinion 
of  the  course  proper  to  be  pursued  in  regard  to  the  arrest  and 
trial  of  certain  persons  who  in  the  time  of  the  war  murdered  my 
three  sons  Jesse,  John  and  William  Hulin  and  also  James  Atkins. 
These  murderers  arrested  my  sons  and  James  Atkins  who  were 
evading  the  military  service  in  the  Confederate  Army ;  after  ar- 
resting them  they  took  them  before  two  justices  of  the  Peace  for 
trial.  From  the  only  information  which  we  can  get  the  Justices 
committed  them  to  Jail.  They  were  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
the  murderers  who  were  home-guard  troops  and  while  on  their 
way  to  the  pretended  prison  they  deliberately  shot  and  beat  to 
death  with  guns  and  rocks  my  three  sons  and  Atkins  while  tied 
with  their  hands  and  hand-cuffed  together.  One  Henry  Plott  now 
residing  in  the  County  of  Cabarrus  was  the  officer  in  command  of 

101  Rufus  Sylvester  Tucker  (April  25,  1829-August  4,  1894)  received  his  A.  B.  degree  from 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1848  and  his  M.  A.  in  1868.  He  was  a  merchant, 
planter,  a  major  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  a  member  of  the  military  staff  of  North 
Carolina.  Daniel  Lindsey  Grant,  Alumni  History  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  628. 

102  Published  in  Raleigh  in  1867  by  Walters,  Hughes  &  Company.  President  Johnson  was 
present  at  the  dedication  of  the  monument  to  Jacob  Johnson  in  June,  1867. 

103  Milton  Cogwell  of  Indiana  graduated  at  West  Point  on  July  1,  1849,  and  continued  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  Army  until  he  retired  on  September  5,  1871.  On  October  21, 
1861,  he  was  brevetted  as  a  major  for  meritorious  service  at  the  battle  of  Ball  Bluff, 
Virginia,  and  on  July  30,  1864,  he  was  made  a  lieutenant  colonel  for  service  at  Petersburg, 
Virginia.  Heitman,  Historical  Register  and  Dictionary  of  the  United  States  Army,  I,  314-315. 


Letters  to  Andrew  Johnson  119 

the  s[q]uad  of  murderers  at  the  time  of  the  murder  was  com- 
mitted Most  of  the  murders  were  strangers  to  the  people  of  the 
County  and  their  names  are  entirely  unknown  to  us  except  one 
George  W.  Sigler  who  now  resides  quietly  in  Marshall  County 
Mississippi.  Against  him  a  bill  has  been  found  by  the  Grand- jury 
of  this  County.  His  Post  office  is  Byhala  about  16  miles  from  Holly 
Springs  Mississippi.  I  have  informed  the  State  Solicitor  of  his 
where  abouts  and  nothing  is  done  for  his  arrest.  Permit  me  to 
pray  you  in  the  name  of  my  departed  sons  to  lend  the  aid  of  the 
Military  force  of  the  government  to  arrest  and  bring  to  trial  the 
felonious  murderer.  I  beseech  you  by  all  the  paternal  feelings 
which  a  father  should  hold  for  a  son  to  lend  us  aid  in  this  matter. 

We  would  earnestly  commend  that  you  arrest  Henry  Plott  as 
so  called  Captain  in  the  Confederate  Army  in  command  of  the 
murderous  squad  and  that  he  be  held  in  custody  till  he  reveals 
the  names  of  the  remainder  of  the  murderers.  Henry  Plott  was 
heard  to  say  soon  after  the  murder  "we  caught  four"  the  question 
was  asked  "what  did  you  do  with  them  ?  Answer  we  put  them  up 
a  Spout.  Did  you  kill  them"?  "Yes  we  did"  All  the  facts  above 
stated  can  be  proved  by  the  best  of  testimony 

You  will  please  inform  us  by  your  earlyest  [sic]  convenience 
what  course  you  can  take  in  matter  and  what  it  may  be  necessary 
for  us  to  do  in  the  premises.  With  Great  respect  I  am  sir 

Your  obedient  servant 
To  Col  M  Gogswell 


[To  be  continued'] 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

To  Make  My  Bread:  Preparing  Cherokee  Foods.  Edited  by  Mary  Ulmer  and 
Ppm72  )      BeCk'  (Cher°kee'  N'  C"  M"SeUm  °f  the  Cher"kee  ^TlS 

This  book  is  unique— a  completely  new  and  refreshing  descrip- 
tion of  Cherokee  cooklore. 

For  the  first  time,  a  wide  collection  of  original  recipes  used  by 
the  Cherokee  people  is  in  print.  These  recipes  are  rich  in  folk- 
lore. They  have  been  handed  down  for  hundreds  of  years  and 
without  doubt  will  intrigue  many  readers.  The  unusual  recipes 
with  history  and  human  interest  stories,  are  combined  into  an 
appealing  story  of  the  present-day  Cherokee  people  and  their 
foods  customs. 

Never  have  we  heard  of  some  of  the  rare  dishes  as  described  in 
To  Make  My  Bread.  As  one  would  naturally  expect,  foods  and 
recipes  discussed  include  wild  fruits,  vegetables  and  meats  such 
as  bear,  venison,  bison,  squirrel,  racoon,  wild  turkey,  opossum 
crayfish,  and  groundhog,  crab  apples,  grapes,  gooseberries,' 
watercress,  creases,  sochani,  artichokes,  mushrooms,  and  leather 
breeches.  The  common  drinks  include  sumac  ade,  sassafras  tea, 
spicewood  tea,  and  hickory  nut  milk. 

On  festive  occasions,  especially  for  "The  Feast,"  it  is  not  un- 
common for  the  cooks  to  prepare  forty  or  more  different  dishes 

Another  interesting  feature  of  this  book  is  a  long  list  of  native 
herbs  and  some  of  the  uses  made  of  them. 

This  is  a  fascinating  book  in  format  and  in  design.  Reading 
is  easy,  with  pictures  that  make  for  a  clearer  understanding  of 
the  Cherokee  Indians'  way  of  life.  College  and  high  school  home 
economics  departments,  foods  editors,  and  home  demonstration 
agents  will  find  To  Make  My  Bread  of  educational  value  in 
teaching  these  foods  customs  and  giving  stories  of  the  Cherokee 
Indians'  way  of  life. 

Ruth  Current. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 
Raleigh. 


C120] 


Book  Reviews  121 

Unto  These  Hills,  a  Drama  of  the  Cherokee.  By  Kermit  Hunter.   (Chapel 
Hill:  The  University  of  North  Carolina  Press.  1950.  Pp.  iv,  100.  $2.00.) 

The  literature  of  symphonic  drama  has  momentarily  taken 
its  departure  from  the  hands  of  its  originator  Paul  Green ;  and 
the  influence  seeping  out  of  Manteo,  Williamsburg,  and  Wash- 
ington has  been  carried  into  the  western  North  Carolina  moun- 
tains and  the  Abraham  Lincoln  country  of  Illinois  by  Kermit 
Hunter.  Though  Paul  Green  has  not  abandoned  the  form  he 
created  and  though  doubtless  we  shall  again  see  symphonic 
dramas  devised  by  his  pen,  young  Mr.  Hunter  has  temporarily 
grasped  the  torch  and  moved  forward  with  it. 

We  are  not  to  assume  that  Hunter  is  already  another  Green, 
with  whom  he  cannot  escape  comparison.  His  play,  Unto  These 
Hills,  which  has  played  two  extremely  successful  summers  in 
its  beautiful  outdoor  theatre  at  Cherokee,  is  an  impressive  pro- 
duction. This  reviewer  has  seen  it,  and  he  was  vastly  pleased. 
It  is  still,  however,  more  history  than  drama.  Beginning  with 
De  Soto's  visit  to  the  Cherokee  Nation  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
it  moves  quickly  to  the  early  nineteenth  century  and  on  into  the 
story  of  the  white  man's  treachery  and  lack  of  faith  and  honor 
during  the  forced  Cherokee  removals  to  Oklahoma.  It  is  a  sorry 
episode  in  American  history — one  for  which  we  cannot  easily 
forgive  our  forefathers.  Andrew  Jackson,  regardless  of  the  rea- 
sons for  his  actions,  emerges  as  the  villain.  The  dupes  who  are 
the  government's  agents  are  picturesquely  presented,  but  we  can 
hardly  blame  them  for  the  national  disgrace. 

Mr.  Hunter  has  attempted  to  make  a  theatre  piece  out  of 
all  this  Cherokee  history  by  focusing  the  action  on  Tsali  and  his 
celebrated  and  great  sacrifice,  but  he  has  not  quite  succeeded. 
Tsali's  role  is  more  evident,  however,  in  the  book  than  on  the 
outdoor  stage,  where  his  identity  in  the  early  scenes  is  hopelessly 
lost  among  the  Indian  leaders  like  Junaluska  and  Sequoyah. 

The  author  is  careful  to  inform  us  that  certain  modifications 
from  actual  historical  records  "have  been  made  in  the  interest 
of  dramatic  unity."  Very  well.  But  this  reviewer  fails  to  under- 
stand what  dramatic  unity  is  served  by  holding  over  Chief 
Drowning  Bear  (and  why  not  use  his  noble  Indian  name  Yona- 
guska?)  to  1841,  when  a  historical  highway  marker  not  far  from 
the  reservation  proclaims  that  he  died  in  1839. 


122  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Unto  These  Hills  is  a  tremendous  effort,  nevertheless.  It  is 

history  beautifully  and  interestingly  presented. 

Richard  Walser. 

North  Carolina  State  College. 
Raleigh. 


Essays  on  North  Carolina  History.  By  Clarence  W.  Griffin.    (Forest  City, 
N.  C:  The  Forest  City  Courier.  1951.  Pp.  x,  284.  $4.50.) 

The  reader  need  not  expect  to  find  in  this  volume  a  series  of 
carefully  documented  and  analytical  essays  on  significant  or 
difficult  phases  of  North  Carolina  history.  Nothing  so  pretentious 
is  undertaken  here,  for  the  author,  who  is  the  editor  of  The 
Forest  City  Courier  as  well  as  something  of  an  antiquarian  and 
expert  on  local  history,  has  simply  reprinted  a  column  which 
he  wrote  for  his  newspaper  under  the  title  of  "Dropped  Stitches 
in  Rutherford  History."  The  title  of  the  volume  is  perhaps  mis- 
leading, and  Mr.  Griffin  admits  it  "could  have  just  as  well  been 
'A  Scrapbook  Of  North  Carolina  History/  "  The  essays  follow  no 
particular  pattern  of  chronology  or  subject  matter,  but  most  of 
them  deal  with  topics  relating  to  Rutherford  County. 

Obviously  Mr.  Griffin  writes  about  the  subjects  which  interest 
him  and  which  he  hopes  will  interest  his  readers.  Forest  City  and 
Spindale  are  towns  whose  history  receives  special  attention,  and 
extensive  lists  of  local  officeholders  are  included.  Stories  of  old 
families,  old  houses,  churches,  civic  organizations,  and  schools, 
as  well  as  anecdotes  and  legends,  all  have  a  place.  While  this 
was  essentially  an  agricultural  county,  some  attention  is  given 
to  the  development  of  the  local  textile  industry  and  to  the  at- 
tempts to  exploit  the  mineral  resources  of  the  county.  The  story 
of  the  "Speculation  Land  Company,"  springing  from  the  promo- 
tion efforts  of  Tench  Coxe  of  Philadelphia  in  1796,  suggests  that 
the  charms  of  this  area  were  known  long  before  Forest  City 
(originally  "Burnt  Chimney")  made  its  appearance. 

The  merit  of  this  book  rests  strictly  upon  its  contribution 
to  local  history.  Unfortunately,  the  illustrations  are  poorly 
reproduced. 

Robert  H.  Woody. 

Duke  University, 

Durham. 


Book  Reviews  123 

General  Charles  Lee:  Traitor  or  Patriot?  By  John  Richard  Alden.   (Baton 
Rouge:  Louisiana  State  University  Press.  1951.  Pp.  ix,  369.  $4.75.) 

Charles  Lee  is  a  revolutionary  figure  generally  described  un- 
complimentarily  by  historians.  Believing  the  animosity  toward 
Lee  springs  partly  from  his  being  regarded  as  a  sinister  figure 
because  of  his  controversy  with  Washington  and  from  a  sus- 
picion that  he  was  a  traitor  to  America,  Professor  Alden  at- 
tempts to  rescue  Lee  from  this  stigma  and  present  him,  properly, 
he  believes,  as  "one  of  the  fathers  of  the  American  Republic" 
by  relating  Lee's  story  objectively,  disclaiming  any  desire  to 
create  one  idol  or  to  destroy  another  (i.e.,  Washington),  but 
admitting  to  the  normal  bias  a  biographer  develops  toward  his 
subject. 

The  main  points  in  this  reappraisal  are  a  relation  of  Lee's 
activities  opposing  George  III  and  supporting  the  American 
cause  in  the  pre-independence  period,  and  a  re-examination  of 
his  actions  in  1777,  in  proposing  a  plan  to  his  British  captors 
for  American  defeat,  and  in  1778  at  the  Monmouth  battle,  with 
the  consequent  controversy  with  Washington.  The  latter  episodes 
have  been  the  basis  for  most  of  the  condemnation  of  Lee.  Re- 
garding Lee's  1777  proposal,  the  author  absolves  Lee  of  treason 
charges,  maintaining  Lee  was  attempting  to  aid  America  by 
misleading  Howe,  and  contending  treason  could  not  have  been 
involved  since  Lee  was  not  an  American  and  had  not  taken  an 
oath  of  loyalty.  However,  no  positive  evidence  is  presented  to 
lead  one  to  disagree  with  Randolph  G.  Adams's  conclusion  that 
"it  is  .  .  .  extremely  difficult  for  the  historian  to  deny  ...  it  was 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  the  United  States." 
(Dictionary  of  American  Biography,  XI,  100.)  Concerning  the 
Monmouth  affair,  and  Lee's  subsequent  court-martial,  evidence 
is  presented  seriously  questioning  the  correctness  of  the  court's 
decision.  Here,  the  reviewer  feels,  Professor  Alden  has  been 
too  favorable  toward  Lee  and  too  critical  of  Lee's  opponents, 
especially  Washington. 

The  author  has  relied  mainly  on  The  Lee  Papers  published 
by  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  Omission  of  a  bibliography 
and  frequent  failure  to  identify  letters  and  locate  manuscript 
collections  cited  in  the  notes  impair  the  scholarly  apparatus  of 


124  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  work.  Placing  the  notes  at  the  back  of  the  book  is  regrettable. 
The  index  appears  adequate.  The  format,  style,  and  editing  are 
excellent. 

L.  Walter  Seegers. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 
Raleigh. 


The  History  of  a  Brigade  of  South  Carolinians.  By  J.  F.  J.  Caldwell. 
(Philadelphia:  King  and  Baird.  1866.  Reprinted,  Marietta,  Georgia: 
Continental  Book  Company.  1951.  Pp.  247.) 

Most  readers  of  Civil  War  accounts  are  presented  with  a 
sweeping  panorama  of  grand  strategy,  great  campaigns,  battles 
won  and  lost,  and  famous  generals.  The  reader  of  J.  F.  J. 
Caldwell's  little  history  of  a  South  Carolina  brigade  will  find 
instead  a  day  by  day  account  of  one  unit's  participation  in  the 
dramatic  struggle.  The  brigade,  known  first  as  Gregg's  and 
later  as  McGowan's,  was  composed  of  the  First,  Twelfth,  Thir- 
teenth, and  Fourteenth  regiments  of  volunteers,  and  Orr's 
Regiment  of  Rifles.  It  was  a  part  of  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill's  famous 
Light  Division,  and  as  such  was  engaged  in  battle  at  Cold  Harbor, 
Second  Manassas,  Fredericksburg,  Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg, 
the  Wilderness,  the  siege  of  Petersburg,  and  others,  and  was 
among  troops  surrendered  by  Lee  at  Appomattox.  The  author, 
an  officer  in  the  First  Regiment  and  a  man  of  considerable 
education,  wrote  his  narrative  from  recollection,  from  conver- 
sation with  fellow  officers,  and  from  company,  regimental,  and 
divisional  reports  when  they  were  accessible.  His  manner  was 
one  of  detachment  and  keenness  of  observation,  resembling  that 
of  a  modern  newspaper  correspondent  in  many  respects.  He 
displayed  very  little  bias,  and  only  in  his  account  of  the  final 
surrender  did  he  descend  into  sentimentality,  which  may  per- 
haps be  forgiven  him.  The  descriptions  are  excellent  without 
being  florid,  except  in  the  eulogies  of  commanding  officers  killed 
in  action.  The  accounts  of  the  battles  of  Fredericksburg  and 
Chancellorsville  especially  must  be  cited  for  their  vividness  and 
sensitivity  of  observation. 

Valuable  as  the  book  doubtless  is  for  reconstructing  battle 
scenes  of  the  Civil  War,  its  greatest  interest  lies  in  its  portrayal 
of  a  soldier's  life.  The  eager  young  men,  accustomed  to  many 


Book  Reviews  125 

niceties  of  life,  learned  to  pillage,  to  cook  weevilly  meal  and 

rancid  bacon,  to  endure  diarrhea  and  dysentery,  to  label  various 

lice  as  "confederates,"  "zouaves,"  and  "tigers/'  to  sleep  in  rain 

and  mud,  sometimes  even  to  sleep  marching  along — in  short, 

to  endure  war  for  four  years  and  to  become  a  highly  trained 

fighting  machine  capable  of  dressing  while  advancing  across  a 

wheat  field  under  fire.  After  the  retreat  from  Gettysburg  one 

can  read  between  the  lines  the  first  note  of  fatality.  The  increased 

tempo  and  pressure  of  the  fighting  after  Grant  was  placed  in 

command  in  Virginia  clearly  indicated  the  beginning  of  the  end. 

Caldwell  finally  acknowledged  this  during  the  winter  of  1864, 

and  in  chapter  XVI  he  has  given  an  excellent  analysis  of  failing 

civilian  morale  and  the  desperate  situation  of  the  troops. 

The  general  reader  as  well  as  the  historian  will  find  much 

to  interest  him  in  this  history  of  a  South  Carolina  brigade. 

Sarah  McCulloh  Lemmon. 

Meredith  College, 
Raleigh. 


The  Ragged  Ones.  By  Burke  Davis.   (New  York:  Rinehart  and  Company. 
1951.  Pp.  336.  $3.50.) 

There  is  always  room  for  one  more,  provided  the  addition 
has  something  to  contribute.  Burke  Davis's  realistic  portrayal 
of  the  backwoods  soldier  of  the  Revolution  in  the  Carolinas 
justifies  this  latest  in  a  long  line  of  novels  concerned  with  the 
march  of  Cornwallis  through  North  Carolina  in  1780-1781. 
E.  P.  Roe  was  perhaps  the  first  to  work  this  medium  with  his 
Hornet's  Nest  of  1886.  He  was  followed  by  such  popular  pur- 
veyors of  romanticized  history  as  Cyrus  T.  Brady  When  Blades 
Are  Out  and  Love's  Afield,  1901)  and  Francis  Lynde  (The 
Master  of  Appleby,  1902).  Interest  revived  in  the  1940's  and 
from  this  period  we  have  LeGette  Blythe,  Alexandriana,  1940; 
Inglis  Fletcher,  Toil  of  the  Brave,  Kings  Mountain  Edition, 
1946;  Maristan  Chapman,  Rogue's  March,  1949;  and  Florette 
Henri,  Kings  Mountain,  1950.  None  of  these  is  entirely  satis- 
factory to  the  professional  historian  and  none,  of  course,  was 
written  for  him. 


126  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

A  book  should  be  appraised  primarily  on  the  basis  of  the  au- 
thor's purpose  in  writing  it,  or  it  should  be  ignored.  With  this  as 
a  criterion,  The  Ragged  Ones  is  an  outstanding  success.  Burke 
Davis  has  made  the  back-country  rebellion  live  again,  and  he 
has  done  it  in  the  literary  taste  of  today.  Descriptive  passages 
and  characterizations  have  frequently  the  ring  of  authenticity. 
There  are  pages  which  read  like  source  material  of  a  type  often 
sought  but  rarely  found.  It  is  disillusioning,  therefore,  to  be 
stopped  short  by  errors  in  fact  which  cast  doubt  on  the  reliability 
of  the  convincing  period  atmosphere.  There  are  many  minor 
slips,  but  the  most  annoying  is  the  author's  falsification  in  his 
chapter  entitled  "Tarrant's  Tavern."  The  state's  historical 
highway  marker  plainly  entitles  the  skirmish  "Torrence's  Tav- 
ern," and  Mr.  Davis  lived  long  enough  in  Charlotte  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  the  family  of  that  name.  His  treatment  of  the 
"Widow  Tarrant"  exceeds  the  license  permissible  to  historical 
novelists.  Mrs.  Adam  Torrence  was  a  well-known  local  figure 
in  no  way  resembling  the  Widow  Tarrant  who  usurps  her  pre- 
rogatives in  the  novel. 

On  the  plus  side,  we  get  an  unvarnished  picture  of  a  time 
and  place  which  Mr.  Davis  correctly  interprets.  His  antidote 
to  D.  A.  R.  romanticism  (with  no  disrespect  to  the  order  in- 
tended by  the  reviewer)  was  much  needed.  Few  of  his  revela- 
tions come  as  either  a  shock  or  a  surprise  to  the  professional 
historian.  But  in  this  era  of  McCarthy  vigilance  it  is  well  to  be 
reminded  that  even  ancestors  for  hereditary  society  membership 
had  their  subversive  moments.  Many  of  the  outstanding  figures 
of  the  War  for  Independence  could  with  difficulty  escape  an 
investigation  today.  As  an  honest  chronicler  of  the  ragged  ones 
who  fought  the  war,  Mr.  Davis  has  performed  a  commendable 
service  for  his  readers,  few  of  whom  will  be  troubled  by  this 
reviewer's  respect  for  accurate  historical  detail. 

Chalmers  G.  Davidson. 

Davidson  College, 
Davidson. 


Book  Reviews  127 

They  Gave  Us  Freedom.  Compiled  and  edited  for  Colonial  Williamsburg 
and  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  in  Virginia  under  the  direction 
of  William  F.  Davidson  of  Knoedler  Galleries  and  A.  Pierce  Middleton. 
Narrative  by  Parke  Rouse,  Jr.  (New  York:  Gallery  Press  for  Colonial 
Williamsburg  and  the  College  of  William  and  Mary  in  Virginia.  1951. 
Pp.  66.  $2.50  cloth,  $1.50  paper-bound.) 

Since  the  restoration  of  Colonial  Williamsburg  was  under- 
taken by  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  in  1927,  at  the  suggestion 
of  W.  A.  R.  Goodwin,  that  early  Virginia  capital  has  become 
a  mecca  for  thousands  of  Americans  interested  in  the  colonial 
and  revolutionary  past  of  their  country.  In  1947  Paul  Green's 
"The  Common  Glory"  was  presented  to  the  public  for  the  first 
time,  making  an  additional  attraction  for  the  summer  visitor 
in  that  historic  village. 

In  commemoration  of  the  175th  anniversary  of  the  independ- 
ence of  Virginia  and  twelve  other  British  colonies  which  resulted 
in  the  birth  of  the  United  States,  Colonial  Williamsburg  and 
the  College  of  William  and  Mary  sponsored  an  exhibition  of  the 
best  existing  visual  evidence  of  the  persons  and  events  that 
made  our  independence  possible.  The  exhibition  was  held  during 
the  early  summer  of  1951,  closing  on  July  4th.  This  collection 
of  art  from  far  and  near  is  now  recorded  for  posterity  in  this 
thin  volume,  thus  offering  a  unified  story  of  the  Revolution  in 
pictorial  form. 

At  least  three  of  the  artists  represented  in  this  little  book 
took  an  active  part  in  the  American  Revolution.  The  elder  Peale 
brothers,  Charles  Willson  and  James,  and  John  Trumbull  were 
all  officers  in  the  American  army.  Charles  Willson  Peale  alone 
painted  thirteen  of  the  pictures  reproduced  here.  Washington 
is  known  to  have  sat  for  at  least  seven  portraits  by  Charles 
Willson,  and  in  all,  Peale  is  credited  with  over  sixty  paintings 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief.  One  of  the  best  known  of  these 
serves  as  a  frontispiece  for  this  collection. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  only  three  of  one-eyed  John  Trum- 
bull's works  are  given  in  these  pages.  "The  Battle  of  Bunker 
Hill,"  "The  Surrender  of  Cornwallis,"  and  "Alexander  Hamil- 
ton" are  but  samples  of  his  delightful  work.  Trumbull  is  often 
referred  to  as  the  "Painter  of  the  Revolution,"  and  most  of  the 
early  great  in  America  sat  before  his  easel  at  least  once. 


128  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

All  the  artists  represented  by  three  or  more  paintings  in  the 
exhibition  had  started  their  careers  in  the  art  before  the  Revo- 
lution began  except  John  Vanderlyn,  the  one-time  protege  of 
Aaron  Burr.  However,  Gilbert  Stuart,  John  Singleton  Copley 
and  James  Sharpies  were  in  England  when  the  war  began  and 
none  of  them  returned  until  after  Washington  became  Presi- 
dent for  his  first  term.  The  works  of  these  men  were  thus  not 
directly  influenced  by  the  trying  days  of  the  young  republic 
before  the  Constitution  was  finally  adopted. 

Compositions  from  the  brushes  of  more  than  twenty  artists 
are  included  among  the  sixty-five  pictures  in  They  Gave  Us 
Freedom.  Reproductions  of  several  historic  documents  and 
photographs  of  busts  by  Giuseppe  Ceracchi  and  Jean-Antoine 
Houdon  complete  the  illustrations. 

The  narrative  takes  up  about  one-fourth  the  space  and  ties 
the  pictorial  story  together.  Here  in  a  few  words  is  a  well- 
rounded  and  concise  history  of  all  phases  of  the  Revolution. 
The  reviewer  has  not  often  seen  so  much  covered  with  so  few 
words,  or  done  so  well. 

Daniel  M.  McFarland. 

Blue  Mountain  College, 
Blue  Mountain,  Mississippi. 


College  Life  at  Old  Oglethorpe.  By  Allen  P.  Tankersley.  (Athens:  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia  Press.  1951.  Pp.  xvi,  184.  Illustrated.  $3.00.) 

"Old  Oglethorpe"  was  located  at  Midway,  a  village  in  central 
Georgia  only  two  miles  from  Milledgeville,  the  state  capital. 
Rather  pretentiously  named  Oglethorpe  University  by  its 
founders,  it  was  really  a  small,  denominational  liberal  arts 
college.  Presbyterians  established  the  school  in  the  late  1830's 
for  "the  cultivation  of  piety  and  the  diffusion  of  useful  knowl- 
edge." From  the  day  it  opened  in  January,  1838,  to  the  day  it 
expired  in  December,  1872,  Oglethorpe,  like  most  colleges  of  its 
kind,  had  to  struggle  for  its  very  existence.  The  Civil  War 
closed  its  doors  only  temporarily,  but  lack  of  funds  forced  it  to 
cease  operations  entirely — at  a  time  when  the  school  had  just 
moved  to  Atlanta,  the  new  state  capital,  and  appeared  to  be 
developing  into  a  real   university.   In  spite  of  all   difficulties 


Book  Reviews  129 

Oglethorpe  left  an  indelible  impress.  At  least  a  thousand  young 
men  studied  there;  more  than  three  hundred  graduated;  for 
twenty-four  years  the  able  Dr.  Samuel  K.  Talmage  was  president 
of  the  college;  the  noted  scientists  Dr.  Joseph  Le  Conte  and 
Dr.  James  Woodrow  served  on  the  faculty ;  the  illustrious  Sidney 
Lanier  was  first  a  student  and  then  a  tutor. 

Allen  P.  Tankersley  has  performed  a  valuable  and  useful 
service  in  telling  the  story  of  this  institution.  Not  only  has  he 
discussed  founders,  presidents,  benefactors,  debts,  fund-raising 
campaigns,  professors,  controversies,  college  rules,  courses  of 
study,  and  commencements,  but  he  has  succeeded  in  painting 
an  authentic  picture  of  student  life.  His  chapter  on  the  student 
literary  societies,  entitled  "Thalians  and  Phi  Deltas,"  is  excellent. 
Also,  he  has  related  the  history  of  the  college  to  the  history  of 
the  times  and  the  region,  especially  as  regards  the  coming, 
course,  and  consequences  of  the  Civil  War.  Above  all,  he  im- 
presses upon  the  reader  the  profound  and  far-reaching  influence 
of  the  spiritual  power  that  Oglethorpe  generated.  The  author 
brings  to  his  task  the  always  fortunate  combination  of  scholarly 
training  and  literary  skill.  It  is  possible  that  he  has  been  over- 
generous  in  his  praise  of  Oglethorpe's  leaders  and  that  he  has 
allowed  his  heroes,  Sidney  Lanier  and  John  B.  Gordon,  to  bulk 
a  little  too  large  in  the  narrative.  On  the  whole,  however,  his 
judgments  seem  just,  and  his  book  is  commendably  brief  and 
readable. 

While  this  volume  might  interest  Georgians  primarily,  there 
is  a  universality  about  the  subject  that  should  broaden  its  ap- 
peal. For  fundamentally  the  Oglethorpe  story  is  the  story  of  the 
typical  church-related,  classical  college  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
College  Life  at  Old  Oglethorpe  includes  sixteen  interesting  illus- 
trations, nine  useful  appendices,  and  a  full  bibliography  and 
index.  The  printing,  binding,  and  jacket  are  attractive.  Those 
few  errors  noted  by  this  reviewer  are  trifling.  Although  Ogle- 
thorpe University  was  revived  in  1913  and  functions  at  the 
present  day,  Mr.  Tankersley  has  wisely  limited  his  study  to 
"Old  Oglethorpe." 

Stuart  Noblin. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 

Raleigh. 


130  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Friend  of  the  People:  The  Life  of  Dr.  Peter  Fayssoux  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina.  By  Chalmers  G.  Davidson.  (Columbia:  The  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  South  Carolina.  1950.  Pp.  vii,  151.  $2.75.) 

Unlike  their  English  and  Scottish  coreligionists,  the  French 
Calvinists  who  came  to  South  Carolina  were  more  than  ordinarily 
successful  in  acquiring  wealth  and  were  interested  in  cultivating 
manners  and  amenities  as  soon  as  they  were  able  to  afford  such 
luxuries,  the  result  being  that  in  less  than  a  generation  many 
of  these  emigres  had  entered  the  ranks  of  the  local  aristocracy. 
This  process  is  well  illustrated  in  the  career  of  Daniel  Fayssoux, 
baker,  who  arrived  in  South  Carolina  about  1737  and,  more 
particularly,  in  that  of  his  son  Peter  (1745-1795),  whose  life 
is  here  described  by  Dr.  Davidson. 

With  advantages  derived  from  the  estate  left  by  his  father 
and  through  a  fortunate  second  marriage  of  his  mother,  Peter 
Fayssoux  secured  a  good  education  in  Charleston  and  went  to 
Edinburgh  for  medical  training.  Here  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Benjamin  Rush,  thus  beginning  a  friendship  which  lasted 
for  the  rest  of  Fayssoux's  life  and  was  the  occasion  for  the 
greater  portion  of  his  correspondence  that  has  been  preserved. 
Returning  to  Charleston,  Fayssoux  practiced  his  profession, 
participated  in  the  city's  social  and  cultural  activities,  and  mar- 
ried, successively,  into  two  wealthy  planter  families.  During  the 
Revolution  he  served  first  as  "senior  physician"  and  later  as 
physician  and  surgeon-general  in  the  South  Carolina  medical 
service;  and,  after  the  creation  of  the  Southern  Department  in 
March,  1781,  as  "chief  physician  of  the  hospital." 

Following  the  war  he  resumed  practice  in  Charleston,  rising 
by  the  early  1790's  to  what  Dr.  Davidson  describes  as  "easily 
the  most  outstanding  medical  figure  in  the  state."  Among  his 
interests  was  the  promotion  of  a  charity  drugstore,  a  sort  of 
eighteenth  century  substitute  for  socialized  medicine,  where  the 
poor  could  be  supplied  with  medicines  free  of  charge.  His  activi- 
ties also  included  rice  planting  and  politics.  Having  gone  through 
the  Revolution  as  an  "irreconcilable"  patriot,  he  found  it  easy 
to  secure  election  to  the  state  legislature,  to  the  state  convention 
on  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1790 ;  but  his  anti-Federalism  ran  counter 
to  the  dominant  trend  in  South  Carolina  during  this  period  and 


Book  Reviews  131 

stranded  him  as  the  advocate  of  a  lost  cause.  His  last  days  were 
saddened  by  the  illness  of  two  of  his  daughters,  apparently  a 
leprous  affliction  contracted  from  an  African  slave  on  one  of  the 
plantations,  which  all  the  medical  skill  of  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more, and  Charleston  was  unable  to  arrest. 

From  such  sources  as  are  available  Dr.  Davidson  has  traced 
the  outlines  of  Peter  Fayssoux's  life.  The  materials  relating 
directly  to  the  subject  appear  to  be  too  meager  to  facilitate  the 
compilation  of  a  lengthy  biography,  with  the  result  that,  even 
in  this  brief  treatment,  the  author  is  occasionally  forced  to 
supplement  his  narrative  with  descriptions  of  the  times.  More- 
over, it  cannot  be  said  that  a  longer  account  of  Fayssoux's  life 
is  necessary;  he  dabbled  in  too  many  things  to  achieve  an  en- 
during reputation  in  any  one  sphere  of  activity.  This  small 
volume  therefore  presents  all  the  information  that  is  likely  to 
be  forthcoming,  and  all  that  is  needed,  with  regard  to  the  career 
of  a  fairly  inconsequential  South  Carolinian  living  in  an 
eighteenth  century  lowcountry  environment. 

James  W.  Patton. 

The  University  of  North  Carolina, 

Chapel   Hill. 


A  History  of  the  Hemp  Industry  in  Kentucky.  By  James  F.  Hopkins.  (Lex- 
ington: University  of  Kentucky  Press.  1951.  Pp.  xii,  240.  Map,  illustra- 
tions. $4.00.) 

So  attractive  to  American  writers  has  agricultural  history 
proved  to  be  that  hardly  any  major  product  of  our  soil  has 
escaped  systematic  study.  One  that  somehow  did  was  hemp, 
the  fibrous  plant  used  principally  in  making  bagging  and 
cordage.  Now  James  F.  Hopkins,  associate  professor  of  history 
at  the  University  of  Kentucky,  fills  that  gap  with  a  creditable 
monograph. 

Because  Kentucky  was  far  and  away  the  leading  producer 
during  the  heyday  of  hemp — that  is,  from  the  late  eighteenth 
century  to  the  Civil  War — Professor  Hopkins  concentrates  his 
attention  upon  that  state.  In  a  few  introductory  pages  he  notes 
the  several  efforts  made  by  England  to  encourage  hemp-growing 
in  the  American  colonies.  Then  he  launches  into  the  story  of  the 


132  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

plant  in  Kentucky,  carefully  detailing  the  subjects  indicated  by 
his  six  chapter  headings :  "The  Hemp  Farm,"  "Management  and 
Sale  of  the  Crop,"  "Prices  and  Production  to  1861,"  "Manu- 
facturing to  1861,"  "Production  of  Hemp  for  Marine  Use,"  and 
"The  Decline  of  the  Industry." 

Some  of  Kentucky's  earliest  settlers  raised  the  fiber  for  the 
home  manufacture  of  cloth  and  cordage.  Early  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  accompanying  the  boom  in  cotton  that  followed  Eli 
Whitney's  famous  invention,  hemp,  fashioned  into  bale  rope  and 
bagging,  found  a  generally  profitable  market  in  the  Deep  South. 
Hemp  thus  became  the  cash  crop  of  Bluegrass  farmers  and  in- 
spired the  building  of  "ropewalks"  (manufacturing  establish- 
ments) at  Lexington,  Frankfort,  Louisville,  and  other  points. 
Both  the  hemp  farm  and  the  hemp  factory  relied  heavily  upon 
slave  labor.  Kentuckians  long  hoped  that  the  United  States  Navy 
would  see  fit  to  supply  its  cordage  needs  from  their  staple  ex- 
clusively, and  that  Congress  would  enact  suitable  protective 
tariffs.  The  clear  superiority  of  imported  Russian  hemp,  how- 
ever, dashed  these  hopes.  The  advent  of  the  steamship,  which 
required  less  rigging  than  the  sailing  ship;  the  onset  of  the 
Civil  War,  which  ruined  the  southern  market;  the  competition 
of  Manila  abaca  and  wire  rope ;  the  substitution  of  wood,  metal, 
and  especially  jute  in  the  bagging  of  cotton — these  soon  rele- 
gated the  hemp  industry  to  minor  status,  and  today  its  impor- 
tance is  negligible. 

Professor  Hopkins  has  made  excellent  use  of  a  wide  variety 
of  materials,  with  emphasis  on  manuscripts,  government  docu- 
ments, and  newspapers,  as  his  footnotes  and  bibliography 
show.  He  writes  soberly  and  precisely.  Within  the  self-imposed 
limits  of  his  study  he  has  been  painstaking  and  thorough.  Yet 
this  reviewer  feels  that  the  author  need  not  have  confined  his 
investigation  so  rigidly  to  Kentucky;  if  not  a  history  of  the 
hemp  industry  in  the  United  States,  then  at  least  a  sampling 
of  sources  in  Missouri,  the  second  ranking  state,  for  purposes 
of  comparison.  The  volume  contains  a  useful  map  of  Kentucky 
and  nine  interesting  photographs.  The  index  seems  adequate, 
though  one  might  question  the  inclusion  of  the  name  entries 
"C.  B.  C,"  "W.  M.  T."  (semi-anonymous  writers),  George, 
Jack,  Roy,  Sullivan,  Tom,  and  Umphry  (Negro  slaves;  Henry, 


Book  Reviews  133 

mentioned  on  page  135,  was  apparently  overlooked)  and  the 
omission  of  such  subject  entries  as  agricultural  (or  farm)  or- 
ganizations, rigging,  and  rope. 

This  book  is  a  valuable  piece  in  the  mosaic  of  American 
agricultural  history. 

Stuart  Noblin. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 
Raleigh. 


The  History  of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College:  From  the  Founding  in 
1891  Through  the  Year  1949-1950.  By  Roberta  D.  Cornelius.  (Chapel 
Hill:  The  University  of  North  Carolina  Press.  1951.  Pp.  xviii,  428.  $6.00.) 

From  the  attractive  cover  jacket  to  the  forty  pages  of  illustra- 
tions at  the  end  of  the  volume,  one  is  impressed  with  the  growth, 
vitality,  and  educational  leadership  of  The  Randolph-Macon 
Woman's  College  and  the  scholarship  and  devotion  to  the  school 
of  its  author  as  these  are  revealed  in  this  excellent  history. 
Written  largely  around  the  administration  of  its  four  presidents, 
the  book  is  replete  with  details  of  college  education  and  the  life 
of  young  women  in  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  during  the  past  sixty 
years. 

In  a  brief  foreword,  President  Theodore  H.  Jack  states  that 
this  book  is  "primarily  a  project  of  the  Alumnae  Association 
and  is  essentially  a  contribution  of  the  alumnae  to  the  college.,, 
Although  written  by  an  alumna  who  has  served  the  college  as 
an  instructor  and  professor  of  English  since  1915,  it  is  not  a 
pean  of  praise ;  rather  it  is  a  careful  and  well  documented  study 
of  a  nationally  accredited  institution  which  has  pioneered  in 
the  field  of  higher  education  for  women  in  the  South. 

Beginning  with  a  discussion  of  the  Randolph-Macon  Board 
of  Trustees  which  has  sponsored  a  college  for  men  in  Virginia 
since  1830,  and  after  setting  forth  the  interest  and  determination 
of  the  Virginia  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Church  to  foster 
Christian  education  through  a  system  of  colleges  and  academies, 
the  author  presents  a  detailed  account  of  the  labors  of  the 
founder-president,  William  Waugh  Smith,  in  establishing  a 
quality  college  for  women  comparable  with  the  best  institutions 


134  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

for  men.  The  attainment  and  perpetuation  of  that  concept  con- 
stitute the  main  theme  of  succeeding  chapters. 

Financial  problems,  buildings,  courses  of  study,  and  a  variety 
of  student  activities  are  intertwined  with  the  personalities  of  a 
strong  group  of  administrators  and  teachers.  Among  these  are 
Presidents  William  A.  Webb,  Dice  R.  Anderson,  Theodore  H. 
Jack,  Acting  President  and  Dean  N.  A.  Pattillo,  Dean  C.  Clement 
French,  Dean  Gille  Larew,  Dean  Almeda  Garland,  Treasurer 
Robert  Winfree,  Dr.  Alexander  W.  Terrell,  and  Professors 
Fernando  W.  Martin,  Herbert  C.  Lipscomb,  Louise  Jordan 
Smith,  William  S.  Adams,  Joseph  L.  Armstrong,  Thomas  M. 
Campbell,  Meta  Glass,  John  H.  Latane,  Thomas  W.  Page,  James 
F.  Peake,  Mary  L.  Sherrill,  Mabel  Whiteside,  and  others. 

The  relations  of  the  college  with  the  Methodist  Church,  the 
Carnegie  Corporation,  the  General  Education  Board,  the  Presser 
Foundation,  the  American  Association  of  University  Women, 
and  other  agencies  are  carefully  noted.  Emphasis  upon  the 
liberal  arts,  the  admission  of  the  college  to  Phi  Beta  Kappa  in 
1916  after  an  existence  of  only  twenty-three  years,  and  the 
achievements  of  some  of  the  more  distinguished  of  9,700 
alumnae  complete  the  text  of  this  interesting  and  significant 
work. 

Notes  and  bibliographical  references  are  grouped  under 
chapter  headings  in  the  back  of  the  book  and  fill  forty-six  pages. 
The  index  of  twenty-five  pages,  containing  cross  references  and 
subentries,  is  most  helpful.  One  could  wish  space  would  have 
permitted  the  author  to  give  more  emphasis  to  the  low  legal  and 
educational  status  of  American  women  when  the  college  was 
founded,  and  to  contemporary  movements  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  women  in  other  states. 

Professor  Cornelius  and  the  University  of  North   Carolina 

Press  are  to  be  congratulated  on  a  lasting  contribution  to  the 

history  of  higher  education  in  the  South  and  the  role  of  educated 

women  in  the  world  of  today. 

David  A.  Lockmiller. 

The  University  of  Chattanooga, 
Chattanooga,  Tennessee. 


Book  Reviews  135 

Revolt    of   the    Rednecks:    Mississippi    Politics,    1876-1925.    By    Albert    D. 
Kirwan.  Lexington:  University  of  Kentucky  Press.  1951.  Pp.  x,  328.  $4.50.) 

This  is  a  scholarly  and  penetrating  examination  of  the  po- 
litical history  of  Mississippi  from  the  close  of  Reconstruction 
to  the  end  of  the  Vardaman  era  in  1925,  the  story  of  those  long 
years  when  the  central  theme  of  Mississippi  politics  was  the 
never-ending  struggle  between  economic  groups,  constantly  in- 
terspersed with  ambitious  attempts  of  worthy  and  unworthy 
men  for  political  leadership  and  control. 

The  struggle  for  the  control  of  Mississippi  democracy  began 
in  1876  when  Radical  Governor  Adelbert  Ames  resigned  while 
undergoing  impeachment  trial,  a  home-rule  victory  actually 
achieved  when  the  George-Lamar  revolution  was  brought  to 
successful  fruition.  The  post-Civil  War  agricultural  depression 
and  the  seemingly  prosperous  condition  of  the  state's  corporate 
and  banking  interest  caused  constant  rumblings  of  discontent 
from  the  small  farmer  class,  which  soon  began  its  struggle  to 
gain  control  of  the  Democratic  party  in  order  to  effect  reforms. 
Discounting  as  much  as  possible  the  discrediting  of  the  old  pre- 
Civil  War  leaders  and  the  bitter  radical  antipathy  which  was 
the  heritage  of  Radical  Reconstruction,  this  group  battled  the 
"cheap  politicians"  who  controlled  the  state's  political  machinery. 
It  almost  captured  the  constitutional  convention  of  1890,  and 
finally  won  victory  when  Vardaman  was  elected  to  the  governor- 
ship in  1903.  Then  began  a  two-decade  control  of  the  state 
during  which  the  voices  of  the  people,  led  by  Vardaman  and 
Bilbo,  must  be  credited  with  awakening  the  Democratic  party 
to  a  new  sense  of  social  responsibility. 

The  volume  is  a  real  achievement  in  the  writing  of  state 
political  history.  It  is  solidly  founded  upon  a  broad  foundation 
of  unpublished  and  published  source  material,  aptly  explained 
in  a  "Critical  Essay  on  Authorities"  at  the  end  of  the  book.  The 
author  surveys  the  entire  period  with  balanced  perspective  and 
is  outspoken  when  the  occasion  demands  it.  Of  added  signifi- 
cance, it  must  be  emphasized  that  the  author  has  that  rare 
ability  to  handle  masses  of  detailed  material  and  to  integrate 
a  multitude  of  minutiae  as  well  as  important  material  into  a 


136  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

well-balanced  finished  product.  His  work  has  been  complimented 
by  the  publishers,  who  have  done  an  excellent  job  of  bookmaking. 

Edwin  Adams  Davis. 

Louisiana  State  University, 
Baton  Rouge. 


College  Life  in  the  Old  South.  By  E.  Merton  Coulter.  (Athens:  The  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia  Press.  1951.  Pp.  xiii,  320.  $4.50.) 

This  book,  copyrighted  in  1951  by  its  author,  is  the  second 
edition  of  the  well-known  work  first  published  by  the  Macmillan 
Company  in  1928.  Since  changes  were  made  only  to  clarify 
ambiguities  or  correct  errors,  the  narrative  differs  little  in  the 
two  editions.  The  new  edition,  which  appeared  as  a  part  of  the 
Sesquicentennial  Celebration  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  em- 
ploys a  larger  page,  includes  drawings,  and  relegates  all  footnotes 
to  the  back. 

College  Life  in  the  Old  South  is  essentially  a  history  of  the 
University  of  Georgia,  commonly  known  in  ante-bellum  times  as 
Franklin  College,  from  the  date  of  its  charter,  1785  (the  first 
classes  met  in  1801),  until  1870.  In  addition  to  an  intimate 
picture  of  life  at  the  Athens  institution  there  are  comparisons 
with  activities  in  other  universities.  Student  life,  literary  so- 
cieties, student-faculty  relations,  commencements,  and  life  in  a 
college  town  were  much  the  same  throughout  the  State.  Meager 
financial  support  from  the  legislature  and  rivalry  among  re- 
ligious denominations  for  control  of  faculty  positions  had  their 
parallels  in  other  states.  Forced  to  close  its  doors  in  1863,  the 
University  reopened  in  1866  and  within  five  years  many  of  its 
present-day  characteristics  had  taken  form.  The  University, 
now  grown  into  six  schools,  saw  commencements  decline  in 
significance  and  interest  in  the  literary  societies  become  dissi- 
pated into  new  fields  of  fraternities  and  athletics. 

Professor  Coulter's  thorough  knowledge  of  Georgia  history 
is  reflected  in  the  skill  with  which  he  weaves  the  history  of 
the  University  into  the  general  pattern  of  the  state's  develop- 
ment. The  remarkably  complete  manuscript  records  of  Franklin 
College,  especially  the  minutes  of  student  organizations  and  the 
faculty,  enable  the  author  to  present  a  wealth  of  detailed  infor- 
mation not  available  elsewhere.  The  difficult  task  of  organizing 


Book  Reviews  137 

this  material  has  been  handled  well  by  combining  the  topical 

and  chronological  approaches.  Additional  light  might  have  been 

thrown  on  relations  between  the  University  and  the  religious 

denominations    by    consulting    periodicals    published    by    the 

Georgia  churches. 

Free  of  typographical  errors  and  attractive  in  format,  this 

book  is  a  credit  to  both  its  author  and  the  University  Press. 

It  will  be  welcomed  not  only  by  Georgia  alumni  but  by  students 

and  general  readers  of  southern  history  as  well. 

Henry  S.  Stroupe. 

Wake  Forest  College, 
Wake  Forest. 


Economic  Resources  and  Policies  of  the  South.  By  Calvin  B.  Hoover  and 
B.  U.  Ratchford.  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company.  1951.  Pp.  xxvii, 
464.  $5.50.) 

This  book  brings  together  in  one  place  the  facts  concerning 
the  productive  resources  of  the  South,  from  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky in  the  north  to  Oklahoma  and  Texas  in  the  southwest. 
Most  of  these  facts  are  presented  in  statistical  tables,  of  which 
there  are  no  less  than  ninety-six  in  the  four  hundred  and  odd 
pages.  The  subjects  of  the  various  tables  vary  from  "Land  Area" 
and  "Birth  Rates"  to  "Votes  of  Southern  Congressmen  on 
Tariff  Bills."  A  large  part  of  the  text  consists  of  discussion  of 
the  facts  contained  in  the  statistical  tables.  The  book  therefore 
does  not  make  easy  reading.  Its  excellence  as  an  encyclopedic 
source  is,  however,  very  great.  One  should  read  it  and  then  keep 
it  at  hand  for  reference. 

There  are  seventeen  chapters  in  the  book.  Beginning  with  the 
physical  and  the  human  resources  of  the  South,  the  authors 
devote  separate  chapters  to  each  of  the  major  industries  or  agri- 
cultural crops  of  the  region  and  conclude  with  chapters  on  policy 
with  respect  to  labor  and  international  trade. 

The  authors  have  done  much  more  than  collect  information 
about  the  South;  they  have  interpreted  it  and  brought  it  to 
bear  upon  the  problem  of  lifting  the  income  of  the  region.  This 
they  call  the  central  theme  of  the  study.  They  find  that  the  South 
is  not  overwhelmingly  rich  in  resources  as  some  enthusiasts 
assert,  but  that  the  South  does  have  resources  that  could  produce 
a  much  higher  level  of  income.  The  policies  that  are  suggested 


138  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

to  achieve  this  are  sane  and  intelligent,  reflecting  the  sound 
learning  of  the  authors.  Heavy  reliance  is  placed  upon  better 
education  and  more  industry  as  means,  but  neither  is  presented 
as  an  open  sesame  to  great  wealth.  Indeed,  it  is  one  of  the 
merits  of  this  book  that  it  does  not  reduce  the  economic  problem 
of  the  South  to  simple  terms. 

A  number  of  the  chapters  have  helpful  summaries  at  the  end. 
There  is  a  good  index  and  a  bibliography  that  covers  thirteen 
pages. 

C.  K.  Brown. 

Davidson  College, 
Davidson. 


Liberty  and  Property.  By  R.  V.  Coleman.   (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons.  1951.  Pp.  xiii,  606.  $5.00.) 

This  is  a  scholarly,  carefully  balanced,  well  documented,  and 
beautifully  written  account  of  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the 
continental  colonies — English,  Spanish,  and  French — and  of 
their  political,  economic,  social,  and  cultural  development  from 
1664  to  1765.  In  The  First  Frontier,  published  three  years  ago, 
Mr.  Coleman  "followed  the  adventures,  hopes,  failures  and 
successes  of  the  early  English  settlers  in  America."  The  reviewer 
thinks  that  Liberty  and  Property  is  an  improvement  over  the 
earlier  volume  and  hopes  that  the  author  will  eventually  bring 
the  story  down  to  the  American  Revolution. 

In  this  volume  the  reader  is  presented  with  a  lively  account 
of  the  founding  of  new  colonies — the  English  consolidating  their 
gains  in  the  New  York-New  Jersey  area;  the  expansion  of 
population  from  Barbados,  Virginia,  and  other  places  into  Caro- 
lina ;  William  Penn  and  the  Quakers  developing  a  "Holy  Experi- 
ment" in  Pennsylvania;  Oglethorpe  and  other  philanthropists 
establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia;  English  colonies  competing 
with  the  French  and  Spanish  for  mastery  of  the  Florida- 
Louisiana  region.  He  is  presented  with  excellent  descriptions 
of  the  commercial  aristocracy  of  the  northern  and  middle 
colonies  and  of  the  planter  aristocracy  of  the  South ;  the  troubles 
arising  from  low  prices  and  high  taxes,  as  illustrated  in  Bacon's 
Rebellion  and  other  uprisings;  the  activities  of  whites  and 
Indians  along  the  trading  paths;  the  wonders  of  the  "visible 


Book  Reviews  139 

and  the  invisible  world" ;  the  problems  arising  from  overlapping 
land  patents  and  general  confusion  in  land  policy;  the  rise, 
spread,  and  suppression  of  piracy;  the  immigration  of  Scotch- 
Irish,  Germans,  and  other  non-English  groups;  the  trade  in 
"skins  and  slaves";  pen  portraits  of  "able  men"  and  their  fine 
homes;  the  common  people  and  their  mode  of  life;  and,  finally, 
the  story  of  the  hitherto  individualistic  colonies  banding  togeth- 
er against  the  mother  country  under  the  watchword  of  "Liberty 
and  Property." 

Mr.  Coleman  has  captured  the  spirit  of  the  century  about 
which  he  writes  and  he  brings  out  the  full  flavor  of  this  signifi- 
cant but  somewhat  neglected  era  of  our  history.  He  has  made  ex- 
cellent use  of  a  variety  of  sources,  notably  travel  accounts  and 
other  contemporary  writings.  His  accounts  of  William  Byrd  II, 
William  Penn,  Increase  Mather,  La  Salle,  and  other  major 
figures  are  splendid,  but  he  has  not  overlooked  scores  of  sig- 
nificant but  less  well-known  men — Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  Tonti, 
"Old  Zach"  Gilliam,  Rev.  William  Vesey,  Lewis  Morris,  Caleb 
Heathcote,  and  scores  of  others.  In  fact,  the  volume  has  some- 
thing of  a  biographical  tone  which  adds  to  its  interest  and 
readability. 

Twenty-eight  full-page  maps,  sixty-two  fine  illustrations 
based  on  original  paintings  and  engravings,  and  an  adequate 
index  round  out  this  excellent  book. 

Hugh  T.  Lefler. 

The  University  of  North  Carolina, 

Chapel  Hill. 


Education   in   the    United    States.    Third    Revised    Edition.    By    Edgar    W. 
Knight.  (Boston:  Ginn  and  Company.  1951.  Pp.  xvi,  753,  $4.50.) 

The  well-known  historical  work  on  American  education  by 
Professor  Knight  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  originally 
published  in  1929,  appears  in  a  third  revised  edition,  with  subject 
matter  brought  up  to  date  and  lucidly  presented,  and  with 
abundant  teaching  aids.  The  distinctive  feature  which  marked 
the  first  edition  of  Knight's  work  was  the  comprehensiveness 
of  its  treatment  of  the  development  of  education  in  the  South. 
This  orientation  has  been  preserved. 


140  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  plan  of  the  book,  which  deals  primarily  with  public  edu- 
cation, will  be  familiar  to  users  of  the  previous  editions.  After 
an  introductory  chapter  epitomizing  present  conditions,  the  work 
traces  the  rise  of  the  publicly  supported  and  controlled  elemen- 
tary school  and  of  state  and  local  agencies  of  control,  with 
emphasis  upon  the  influence  in  furthering  the  educational 
awakening  of  reports  on  European  conditions  by  Archibald  D. 
Murphey,  Cousin,  Stowe,  Bache,  Henry  Barnard,  and  Mann,  and 
the  endeavors  of  such  advocates  of  public  education  as  Carter, 
Mann,  Barnard,  Mills,  Lewis,  Galloway,  Pierce,  Breckinridge, 
Edwards,  and  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  North  Carolina's  first  super- 
intendent of  schools.  The  growth  of  secondary  and  higher  edu- 
cation, including  teacher-training,  is  also  recounted.  A  chapter 
is  devoted  to  the  emergence  of  the  South  from  the  post-Recon- 
struction educational  destitution  to  which  Walter  H.  Page  di- 
rected attention  in  1897,  in  his  address  on  "The  Forgotten  Man." 
Another  summarizes  progress  following  the  Civil  War  and  traces 
the  influence  of  Pestalozzi,  Herbart,  Froebel,  Hall,  James,  Dewey, 
E.  L.  Thorndike,  and  others.  A  discussion  of  the  depression 
period  and  of  trends  and  issues  after  1930  is  followed  by  the 
twentieth  and  final  chapter,  entitled  "The  Roaring  Forties," 
which  presents  a  wealth  of  material  on  wartime  and  postwar 
educational  activities. 

While,  as  is  inevitable  in  a  treatise  of  such  scope,  the  reader 
will  sometimes  dissent  from  the  author's  judgment  and  per- 
spective, it  is  unquestionable  that  Knight  has  produced  a  most 
valuable  work  for  students  of  American  educational  and  cultural 
history.  Scarcely  less  will  be  its  usefulness  to  general  readers 
who,  as  parents  or  civic  leaders,  have  a  vital  interest  in  the 
history  and  problems  of  American  education. 

Elbert  Vaughan  Wills. 

Gatesville. 


The  United  States,  1830-1850:  The  Nation  and  Its  Sections.  By  Frederick 
Jackson  Turner.  (Reprint.  New  York:  Peter  Smith.  1950.  Pp.  xiv,  602. 
$5.00.) 

With  the  reprinting  of  this  important  work  Peter  Smith  adds 
one  more  to  the  growing  list  of  titles  that  the  publisher  is 
rescuing  from  that  dismal  epitaph,  "out  of  print."  The  Smith 


Book  Reviews  141 

reprints,  many  of  them  reproduced  by  the  highly  satisfactory 
micro-offset  process,  now  include  scores  of  the  most  important 
volumes  in  the  library  of  American  history.  A  few  titles  will 
suggest  the  contribution  that  this  publishing  venture  is  making 
to  historical  scholarship ;  for  what  would  a  library  of  Americana 
be  without  Becker's  Declaration  of  Independence,  Jameson's 
American  Revolution  Considered  as  a  Social  Movement,  the  ag- 
ricultural histories  of  Gray  and  Bidwell  and  Falconer,  Clark's 
History  of  Manufactures,  Hibbard's  Public  Land  Policies,  Riley's 
American  Thought,  Van  Tyne's  Loyalists,  Fite's  Social  and  In- 
dustrial Conditions,  Pratt's  Expansionists  of  1812,  Turner's 
Significance  of  Sections,  Fleming's  Documentary  History  of  Re- 
construction,  Wissler's  American  Indian,  to  mention  only  a  few? 

Measured  against  his  gifts,  Frederick  Jackson  Turner  wrote 
few  books.  Indeed,  as  Avery  Craven  pointed  out  in  his  percep- 
tive introduction  to  this  volume,  "his  eager  mind  was  bent  on 
exploration.  ...  He  disliked  to  find  his  researches  halted  and 
his  ideas  crystalized  by  publication.  .  .  .  Until  all  the  evidence 
was  in,  the  time  had  not  come  for  the  last  word."  The  United 
States,  1830-1850  is  both  the  beneficiary  and  the  victim  of  that 
quality.  Fifteen  painstaking  years  in  the  making,  the  book  was 
never  completed.  The  last  chapter  is  wholly  missing  and  much 
of  what  does  appear  is  a  first  or  second  draft  that  still  awaited 
revision  or  polishing,  a  task  which  the  author's  untimely  death 
(March  14,  1932)  prevented.  The  historical  craft  is  forever  in 
debt  to  Merrill  H.  Crissey,  Max  Farrand,  and  Avery  Craven 
for  putting  the  manuscript  in  final  form  for  publication;  un- 
finished though  it  was,  the  book  remains  a  rich  addition  to 
the  literature  of  the  American  record. 

This  is  the  mature  Turner,  grown  cautious  with  the  years, 
still  in  search  of  hypotheses  but  subjecting  them  to  increasingly 
rigorous  tests.  Four  decades  had  passed  since  the  young  Turner 
advanced  his  persuasive  thesis  that  the  unique  American  ex- 
perience was  to  be  explained  in  terms  of  a  receding  frontier. 
In  this  last  of  his  books  the  critic  looks  in  vain  for  oversimplifi- 
cations. But  there  is  the  same  old  concern  for  isolating  the  life 
principles,  delineating  the  natural  history,  describing  and  ac- 
counting for  the  interpenetrations  of  environments,  politics,  and 
social  institutions. 


142  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Something  over  half  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  several  sec- 
tions, a  chapter  for  each:  New  England,  the  Middle  Atlantic 
States,  the  South  Atlantic  States,  the  South  Central  States,  the 
North  Central  States,  Texas,  and  the  Far  West.  Each  of  these 
is  a  sharply  etched  profile  in  itself,  supported  by  skillfully  dis- 
ciplined detail  drawn  from  the  geography,  ethnology,  politics 
and  economic  forces,  the  social  and  intellectual  life  of  the  era 
and  area  he  describes.  Then  follows  a  brilliant  study,  heavily 
documented,  of  the  interplay  of  the  sectional  forces — at  once 
divisive,  coalescent,  and  reciprocal — in  the  national  context. 
Perhaps  the  emphasis  on  political  and  economic  factors  occa- 
sionally crowds  out  an  adequate  treatment  of  social  and  cultural 
developments. 

To  the  scholar  the  volume  is  as  stimulating  and  delightful  to 
read  as  it  was  when  it  first  appeared  sixteen  years  ago,  despite 
the  efforts  of  irreverent  young  doctors  of  philosophy  always 
quick  to  "revise"  or  to  take  their  elders  to  task  for  neglecting 
their  own  youthful  specialties.  And  for  that  happy  mortal,  the 
general  reader  who  reads  American  history  for  pleasure  and 
instruction,  it  is  a  healthful  corrective  to  the  folklore  that  the 
decades  from  1830  to  1860  were  wholly  given  over  to  the  Great 
Debate  and  to  preparations  for  a  romantic  Civil  War.  For  any- 
one who  wishes  to  understand  the  sections  and  to  perceive  the 
relationships  of  the  sections  with  each  other  and  with  the  nation 
in  the  fateful  and  fruitful  epoch  of  1830-1850  (for  anyone  who 
wishes  to  understand  American  History,  that  is  to  say)  this 
book  is  indispensable.  It  seems  unlikely  that  it  will  ever  be  quite 
superseded. 

There  is  no  bibliography,  though  the  copious  footnotes,  it  has 
been  pointed  out,  are  little  bibliographies  in  themselves.  There 
are  a  number  of  useful  maps  and  charts,  the  index  is  adequate, 
and  the  few  typographical  slips  that  appeared  in  the  original 
edition  naturally  persist  in  this  one  since  it  was  not  made  from 
new  plates.  The  print  is  admirably  sharp  and  clear. 

Richard  Bardolph. 

The  Woman's  College  of  the 

University  of  North  Carolina, 

Greensboro. 


Book  Reviews  143 

Federal  Records  of  World  War  II.  National  Archives  Publications  Nos. 
51-7  &  8.  (Washington:  United  States  Printing  Office.  1950-51.  2  vols. 
Pp.  I:  xii,  1073.  II:  iii,  1061.  $2.50  each.) 

In  1946  President  Truman  wrote  to  the  Archivist  of  the 
United  States  that  he  " would  like  to  see  prepared  and  published 
such  guides  as  will  make  the  pertinent  materials  known  and 
usable."  The  Federal  Records  of  World  War  II,  in  a  general  way, 
fulfills  the  President's  request  since  it  is  a  convenient  digest  of 
the  records  of  every  agency  of  the  United  States  government 
which  played  a  part  in  the  conduct  of  the  war  (1939-1945). 
This  represents  the  labor  and  contributions  of  many  people. 
Much  credit  is  due  to  Dr.  Philip  M.  Hamer  for  his  skillful  editing 
and  over-all  direction  of  the  compilation  of  these  volumes. 

This  digest  or  general  guide  may  well  be  compared  to  the  card 
catalog  of  a  library.  It  leads  the  searcher  to  the  materials  and 
does  not  try  to  describe  them  except  as  to  type.  Volume  I, 
"Civilian  Agencies,"  is  divided  into  seven  parts:  (1)  The 
Legislative  Branch;  (2)  The  Judicial  Branch;  (3)  The  Executive 
Office  of  the  President ;  (4)  Emergency  Agencies ;  (5)  Executive 
Departments;  (6)  Other  United  States  Agencies;  (7)  Inter- 
national Agencies.  Volume  II,  "Military  Agencies,"  contains: 
(1)  Interallied  and  Interservice  Military  Agencies;  (2)  The 
War  Department  and  the  Army;  (3)  The  Naval  Establishment; 
(4)  Theaters  of  Operation.  For  each  agency  listed  under  these 
broad  headings  there  is  a  sketch  of  its  wartime  duties  and  activi- 
ties; a  description  of  its  records  as  to  type,  location,  custody, 
and  volume  (in  cubic  feet)  ;  and  pertinent  bibliographical 
references. 

It  is  obvious  that  special  care  was  taken  in  the  compilation 
of  the  index.  It  is  more  detailed  than  those  of  previous  "guides" 
prepared  by  the  National  Archives,  especially  in  its  cross  refer- 
ences. For  example,  listed  under  "leather  and  hides"  are  twenty- 
two  entries  which  cover  every  aspect  of  procurement,  production, 
importation,  prices,  research,  and  military  use  of  these  com- 
modities. 

E.  G.  Roberts. 

Duke  University  Library, 

Durham. 


HISTORICAL  NEWS 

The  department  of  history  at  Duke  University  announces 
the  following  promotions:  Irving  B.  Holley  to  assistant  profes- 
sor; Arthur  B.  Ferguson,  Harold  T.  Parker,  and  Richard  L. 
Watson,  Jr.,  to  associate  professor ;  and  John  S.  Curtiss  to  pro- 
fessor. Dr.  Curtiss  spent  the  past  summer  researching  in  Russian 
History  in  the  Hoover  Library,  Stanford,  California. 

Dr.  Alan  K.  Manchester,  professor  of  history  and  dean  of 
undergraduate  studies  at  Duke  University,  is  in  Brazil  on  a 
one-year  appointment  as  cultural  attache  to  the  United  States 
Embassy  there. 

Dr.  E.  Malcolm  Carroll  was  principally  responsible  for  the 
third  volume  of  the  German  Foreign  Office  Archives:  Docu- 
ments on  German  Foreign  Policy,  1918-1945,  from  the  Archives 
of  the  German  Foreign  Ministry.  Series  D.  (1937-1943)  Ger- 
many and  the  Spanish  Civil  War,  1936-1939.  The  volume  was 
issued  by  the  State  Department  and  His  Majesty's  Stationery 
Office,  London. 

Publications  or  prospective  publications  by  other  members 
of  the  Duke  University  history  department  include  Joel  G. 
Colton,  Compulsory  Labor  Arbitration  in  France,  1936-1939 
(New  York:  King's  Crown  Press,  Columbia  University,  1951)  ; 
W.  T.  Laprade,  "Scholarship,  Hysteria  and  Freedom,"  in  New 
Republic,  October  29,  1951;  William  B.  Hamilton,  Fifty  Years 
of  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  (to  be  published  in  January, 
1952,  by  the  Duke  University  Press)  ;  Robert  H.  Woody  edited, 
with  a  biographical  appraisal,  The  Papers  and  Addresses  of 
William  Preston  Few,  Late  President  of  Duke  University,  which 
was  published  by  the  Duke  University  Press  in  December. 

Dr.  Richard  C.  Todd  of  East  Carolina  College  has  received 
the  Mrs.  Simon  Baruch  University  Prize,  offered  biennially  by 
the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  for  the  best  unpub- 
lished manuscript  in  the  field  of  southern  history.  Professor  Todd 
submitted  in  this  competition  his  dissertation  prepared  at  Duke 
University,  "A  History  of  Confederate  Finance."  He  also  pre- 
sented a  paper,  "Confederate  Finance,"  at  the  annual  meeting 

[144] 


Historical  News  145 

of  the  Southern  Historical  Association  at  Montgomery,  Novem- 
ber 8-10,  1951. 

Dr.  Loren  C.  MacKinney  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Historical  Association  committee  on 
documentary  reproduction  and  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  microfilming  in  Italy.  He  is  the  author  of  several  articles 
on  mediaeval  medicine  which  have  appeared  or  are  to  appear 
in  the  near  future  in  various  journals. 

The  fifth  Harriet  Elliott  Social  Science  Forum  was  held  at 
the  Woman's  College  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina, 
Greensboro,  November  15,  16,  and  17.  The  forum  subject  was 
"The  Meeting  of  East  and  West  in  China"  and  Hu  Shih,  Derk 
Bodde,  Harold  Isaacs,  and  Vera  Micheles  Dean  were  guest 
speakers. 

On  September  27  a  highway  marker  was  unveiled  at  Rich 
Square  for  the  birthplace  of  Colonel  George  V.  Holloman,  in- 
ventor of  many  significant  devices  for  airplanes.  Dr.  Christopher 
Crittenden  of  the  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History, 
Raleigh,  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Hunter  of  the  State  Board  of  Education 
delivered  addresses. 

Mr.  William  S.  Powell  of  the  Department  of  Archives  and 
History  attended  the  formal  opening  and  dedication  of  the 
Rowan  Public  Library  in  Salisbury  on  October  4.  The  building 
is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  Francis  Burton  Craige,  a  native 
of  Rowan  County. 

Mr.  W.  Frank  Burton  and  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden  of  the 
Department  of  Archives  and  History  attended  a  meeting  of  the 
North  Carolina  Society  of  Tax  Supervisors  at  the  Institute  of 
Government  in  Chapel  Hill  on  October  9.  Mr.  Burton  made  the 
principal  address  of  the  occasion  and  Dr.  Crittenden  also  ad- 
dressed the  group  briefly. 

The  Society  of  American  Archivists  held  its  fifteenth  annual 
meeting  in  Annapolis,   Maryland,   October   15   and   16.   North 


146  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Carolinians  attending  this  meeting  were:  Dr.  James  W.  Patton 
of  Chapel  Hill,  Dr.  T.  H.  Spence  of  Montreat,  and  Mr.  D.  L. 
Corbitt,  Mr.  W.  Frank  Burton,  and  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden 
of  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History.  Dr.  Crittenden 
gave  the  "Report  of  the  Long  Range  Planning  Committee,,  and 
Mr.  Burton  spoke  on  "A  Tar  Heel  Archivist  and  His  Problems." 

On  October  12  at  the  convention  of  the  North  Carolina 
Division  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  in  Winston- 
Salem,  the  following  new  officers  were  elected:  Mrs.  E.  R. 
McKethan  of  Fayetteville  and  Mrs.  W.  D.  Pollock  of  Kinston, 
honorary  presidents ;  Mrs.  William  Dickens  of  Enfield,  first  vice- 
president;  Mrs.  A.  R.  Wilson  of  Durham,  third  vice-president; 
and  Mrs.  A.  W.  Hoffman  of  Raleigh,  historian.  Re-elected  officers 
were :  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Stevens,  Jr.,  Warsaw,  president ;  Mrs.  Dan 
Croom,  Winston-Salem,  recording  secretary;  Mrs.  Litchfield  B. 
Huie,  Warsaw,  corresponding  secretary;  Mrs.  Paul  Fitzgerald, 
Pelham,  treasurer ;  Miss  Jeannette  Biggs,  Fayetteville,  registrar ; 
and  Mrs.  C.  H.  Bass,  High  Point,  recorder  of  crosses. 

On  November  8  Mrs.  Glenn  Long  of  Newton  was  elected 
president-general  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy 
at  its  fifty-eighth  national  convention,  held  in  Asheville.  Mrs. 
Long  was  installed  in  office  on  November  9. 

The  Bertie  County  Historical  Association  held  its  fall  meeting 
in  Windsor  on  October  19.  A  portrait  of  John  Watson,  pioneer 
leader  of  the  county,  was  presented  to  the  association  and  re- 
search papers  were  read  as  follows:  "Old  Homes  of  Woodville" 
by  Miss  Stella  Phelps;  "The  William  King  House"  by  Mrs.  John 
Parker ;  and  "The  Indian  Gallows"  by  Mrs.  E.  S.  Askew.  Milton 
F.  Perry  of  the  staff  of  Colonial  Williamsburg,  Inc.,  a  native 
of  Bertie  and  a  charter  member  of  the  association,  outlined  a 
plan  for  the  publication  of  a  quarterly  bulletin. 

The  North  Carolina  Society  of  County  and  Local  Historians, 
on  Sunday,  October  21,  toured  Montgomery  and  northwestern 
Richmond  counties,  with  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Jeffrey  F.  Stanback 
as  hosts.  The  historians  visited  the  Yankee  Graveyard  near 
Mount  Gilead ;  "The  Widow's  Purchase,"  home  of  Col.  and  Mrs. 


Historical  News 


147 


Stanback;  "Carlisle,"  built  by  Colonel  B.  F.  Little;  "Powellton," 
built  by  Pleasant  M.  Powell  about  1842 ;  Pekin  village ;  and  the 
Edmund  DeBerry  home  (now  "Pheasant  Farm").  Following  the 
tour  the  historians  attended  the  unveiling  of  a  new  highway 
marker  for  Edmund  DeBerry,  congressman  from  Montgomery 
County,  1828-1855. 

The  Historical  Society  of  North  Carolina  held  its  fall  meeting 
at  Wake  Forest  on  October  19.  Dr.  Fletcher  M.  Green  of  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  was  elected  president  for  1952. 
Other  officers  for  1952  are :  Mr.  Aubrey  Lee  Brooks,  Greensboro, 
vice-president ;  Dr.  Frontis  W.  Johnston,  Davidson  College,  secre- 
tary-treasurer;  and  Mr.  D.  L.  Corbitt,  Department  of  Archives 
and  History,  program  chairman.  As  the  highlight  of  the  evening 
meeting,  Dr.  C.  C.  Pearson  of  Wake  Forest  College,  retiring 
president,  spoke  on  "Why  Can't  You  and  I  Let  People  Go  to 
Hell  in  Their  Own  Way:  A  Virginia  Historical  Study."  Dr. 
Charles  S.  Sydnor  of  Duke  University  spoke  at  the  dinner 
meeting  on  the  subject,  "The  Study  of  American  History  at 
Oxford." 

At  the  afternoon  session  Dr.  Stuart  Noblin  of  State  College 
presented  a  paper,  "Leonidas  L.  Polk,  A  Summary  View" ;  Dean 
Cecil  K.  Brown  of  Davidson  College  read  a  paper,  "The  Develop- 
ment of  Transport  and  Trade  in  North  Carolina  During  the 
Last  Half-Century";  and  Dr.  Hugh  T.  Lefler  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  presented  an  obituary  of  the  late  Albert  Ray 
Newsome. 

On  October  25  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden  addressed  the 
Trinity  College  Historical  Society  of  Duke  University  on  the 
subject,  "Preserving  Tar  Heel  Historical  Manuscripts." 


The  Eastern  States  Archaeological  Federation  held  its  annual 
session  in  Chapel  Hill,  October  26  and  27.  Dr.  R.  B.  House  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  and  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden 
extended  greetings,  and  Dr.  Joffre  L.  Coe  of  the  University  and 
Mr.  Ernest  Lewis,  superintendent  of  Town  Creek  State  Park 
(Montgomery  County),  read  papers. 


148  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  North  Carolina  Archaeological  Society  met  in  Chapel 
Hill  on  October  29.  Dr.  Joffre  L.  Coe  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  was  elected  president,  succeeding  Dr.  Christopher  Crit- 
tenden, and  Mr.  Harry  T.  Davis  of  the  State  Museum,  Raleigh, 
was  re-elected  secretary-treasurer. 

The  Southern  Historical  Association  held  its  seventeenth 
annual  meeting  in  Montgomery,  Alabama,  November  8-10. 
North  Carolinians  appearing  on  the  program  included  Dr.  Hugh 
T.  Lefler  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina;  Dr.  Elisha  P. 
Douglass  of  Elon  College ;  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden ;  Dr.  Har- 
old Parker,  Duke  University ;  Dr.  Paul  H.  Clyde,  Duke  Universi- 
ty ;  Dr.  Harold  A.  Bierck,  Jr.,  University  of  North  Carolina ;  Dr. 
Richard  C.  Todd,  East  Carolina  College;  and  Dr.  Wilfred  B. 
Yearns,  Wake  Forest  College.  Other  North  Carolinians  who 
attended  were  as  follows:  Mr.  W.  F.  Burton  and  Mr.  D.  L. 
Corbitt;  Dr.  Fletcher  M.  Green,  University  of  North  Carolina; 
Mr.  William  S.  Powell;  and  Dr.  J.  Carlyle  Sitterson,  University 
of  North  Carolina.  Dr.  Sitterson,  who  was  to  complete  in  De- 
cember three  years  as  secretary-treasurer  of  the  association, 
was  elected  to  the  executive  council  for  a  three-year  term  be- 
ginning in  January,  1952. 

Civic  leaders  of  Boone  and  Western  North  Carolina  have 
organized  the  Southern  Appalachian  Historical  Association  to 
perpetuate  the  historical  culture  of  mountain  people  of  that 
section.  Meeting  early  in  November,  the  group  elected  the  fol- 
lowing officers:  Dr.  I.  G.  Greer  of  Chapel  Hill,  president;  Dr. 
D.  J.  Whitener  of  Appalachian  State  Teachers  College,  Boone, 
vice-president;  Mrs.  B.  W.  Stallings  of  Boone,  corresponding 
secretary ;  Mrs.  Leo  K.  Pritchett  of  Boone,  recording  secretary ; 
and  Mr.  James  Marsh  of  Boone,  treasurer.  Plans  are  being  made 
for  producing  a  drama,  possibly  centering  about  Daniel  Boone. 

A  week-long  celebration  of  Jackson  County's  centennial  was 
climaxed  by  a  parade  and  contests  held  in  Sylva  on  September  8. 
A  capsule  two  feet  in  diameter  and  six  feet  in  length,  containing 
documents,  pictures,  and  other  information  on  the  history  of 
the  county,  was  buried  on  the  courthouse  lawn. 


Historical  News  149 

Elizabeth  City  celebrated  its  sesquicentennial  the  week  of 
November  18-24.  A  parade  and  candle-lighting  ceremony  were 
held  on  November  19,  and  Senator  Willis  Smith  and  Mr.  Robert 
Welch  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  former  residents,  were 
speakers  at  a  banquet  session  on  November  21. 

The  Rutherford  County  Historical  Society  held  a  meeting  in 
Rutherfordton  on  December  4,  and  the  following  officers  were 
elected  for  1952 :  Mr.  Clarence  Griffin  of  Forest  City,  president ; 
Professor  J.  J.  Tarlton  of  Rutherfordton,  vice-president;  Mr. 
Orland  M.  York  of  Rutherfordton,  secretary;  and  Mr.  J.  Worth 
Morgan  of  Forest  City,  treasurer.  Those  elected  directors  were : 
Mr.  Herbert  Crenshaw,  Spindale ;  Mr.  F.  I.  Barber,  Forest  City ; 
Mr.  S.  C.  Elmore,  Spindale;  and  Mr.  R.  E.  Price,  Rutherfordton. 
Plans  were  made  for  the  publication  of  a  300-page  memorial 
volume  to  the  dead  of  Rutherford  County  in  World  War  II. 
This  volume  is  to  include  a  history  of  the  county  from  1937  to 
the  present  and  will  carry  the  names  of  almost  6,000  Rutherford 
county  men  who  served  in  the  armed  forces  during  the  war. 

The  Roanoke  Island  Historical  Association  held  a  business 
meeting  in  Raleigh  on  December  5.  Honorable  R.  Bruce  Eth- 
eridge  of  Manteo  was  elected  temporary  chairman  of  the  asso- 
ciation, succeeding  Mr.  Bill  Sharpe  of  Raleigh. 

The  North  Carolina  State  Art  Society  conducted  its  twenty- 
fifth  annual  session  in  Raleigh  December  5-6.  The  first  day  a 
business  meeting  was  held,  at  which  reports  were  made  on  art 
activities  throughout  the  state,  and  at  a  get-together  luncheon 
Mr.  Hugo  Leipziger-Pearce  spoke  on  "The  United  States  Pro- 
gram of  Restitution  of  the  Looted  Art  Treasures  of  Europe." 
At  the  evening  meeting  awards,  gifts,  and  recognitions  were 
made,  after  which  Miss  Margarita  Salinger,  research  fellow 
of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  made  an  illustrated  address 
on  "The  Enjoyment  of  Art."  After  this  session  a  reception  and 
preview  of  an  exhibition  of  "Paintings  from  Three  Centuries," 
on  loan  from  the  Knoedler  Galleries,  were  held  in  the  State  Art 
Gallery.  At  the  business  meeting  the  following  officers  were 
elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  president,  Mrs.  Katherine  Pendle- 


150  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

ton  Arrington  of  Warrenton;  vice-presidents,  Mrs.  Jacques 
Busbee  of  Steeds,  Mrs.  J.  H.  B.  Moore  of  Greenville,  and  Mr. 
John  Allcott  of  Chapel  Hill;  treasurer,  Mrs.  James  H.  Cordon, 
Raleigh;  and  executive  secretary,  Miss  Lucy  Cherry  Crisp,  Ra- 
leigh. Members  elected  to  the  executive  committee  are  as  follows : 
Mr.  Robert  Lee  Humber,  Greenville,  chairman;  Mr.  Jonathan 
Daniels  of  Raleigh,  Dr.  Clemens  Sommer  of  Chapel  Hill,  Dr. 
Clarence  Poe  of  Raleigh,  and  Mrs.  Isabel  B.  Henderson  of  Ra- 
leigh. 

The  North  Carolina  Society  for  the  Preservation  of  Anti- 
quities held  its  eleventh  annual  meeting  in  Raleigh  on  November 
6.  At  the  morning  meeting  Mrs.  Katherine  Pendleton  Arrington 
of  Warrenton  discussed  the  project  for  an  Elizabethan  garden 
adjacent  to  Fort  Raleigh  and  reports  were  made  on  restoration 
and  preservation  projects.  At  the  luncheon  meeting  Colonel 
Kermit  Hunter  of  Chapel  Hill  spoke  on  our  Elizabethan  heritage. 
At  the  evening  meeting  new  life  members  and  the  Charles  A. 
Cannon  awards  were  presented  by  Associate  Justice  Wallace 
Winborne  of  the  State  Supreme  Court  and  a  program  centering 
around  historic  Beaufort  County,  sponsored  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harry  McMullan,  included  the  following:  "History  of  Beaufort 
County,"  by  Mrs.  Ford  S.  Worthy,  Washington ;  "Early  History 
of  St.  Thomas  Church,  Bath,"  by  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Wright, 
Wilmington;  "Colonial  Bath,"  a  pageant,  presented  by  the 
Washington  Little  Theatre ;  and  a  benediction  by  Rev.  Alex  C.  D. 
Noe,  Rector,  St.  Thomas  Church,  Bath.  Following  the  program 
a  reception  was  held  for  members  and  guests.  No  election  of 
officers  for  the  ensuing  year  was  held  and  the  following  will 
serve:  Mrs.  Charles  A.  Cannon  of  Concord,  president;  Mrs. 
Inglis  Fletcher  of  Edenton,  vice-president;  Mrs.  Ernest  A. 
Branch  of  Raleigh,  secretary-treasurer.  Vice-presidents  for  the 
congressional  districts  are:  Mr.  Aycock  Brown  of  Manteo,  Mrs. 
Katherine  P.  Arrington  of  Warrenton ;  Mrs.  Elias  Carr  of  Mac- 
clesfield, Mrs.  Charles  Lee  Smith  of  Raleigh,  Mrs.  Edward  M. 
Anderson  of  West  Jefferson,  Mrs.  John  A.  Kellenberger  of 
Greensboro,  Mrs.  J.  Lawrence  Sprunt  of  Wilmington,  Mr. 
George  H.  Maurice  of  Eagle  Springs,  Mrs.  Henkel  Spillman 
of  Statesville,   Mrs.   E.   C.   Marshall  of  Charlotte,   Mrs.  J.   D. 


Historical  News  151 

Lineberger  of  Shelby,  and  Mrs.  E.  Yates  Webb  of  Shelby.  The 
board  of  directors  is  composed  of  the  following:  Mrs.  O.  Max 
Gardner  of  Shelby,  Miss  Gertrude  S.  Carraway  of  New  Bern, 
Mrs.  James  A.  Gray  of  Winston-Salem,  Mrs.  Lyman  A.  Cotton 
of  Chapel  Hill,  and  Dr.  Archibald  Henderson  of  Chapel  Hill. 

The  North  Carolina  Society  of  County  Historians  held  its 
annual  session  in  Raleigh  on  December  7.  Reports  were  made  on 
various  phases  of  local  historical  activity  in  the  state  and  the 
following  officers  were  elected:  Dr.  W.  P.  Jacocks  of  Chapel 
Hill,  president;  Miss  Mary  Louise  Medley  of  Wadesboro  and 
Mr.  Charles  M.  Heck  of  Raleigh,  vice-presidents;  and  Mr.  Leon 
McDonald  of  Olivia,  secretary-treasurer. 

The  North  Carolina  Folklore  Society  held  its  fortieth  session 
in  Raleigh  on  December  7.  Rev.  Gilbert  R.  Combs  of  Walkertown 
delivered  an  address  entitled  "Ballads  and  Songs  of  the  Appala- 
chian Mountains"  and  Mr.  Marshall  Ward  of  Balm  addressed 
the  group  on  "Jack  and  Heifer  Hide."  At  the  business  meeting 
the  following  officers  were  elected :  Mr.  Bascom  Lamar  Lunsf ord 
of  Leicester,  president;  Miss  Isabel  B.  Busbee  of  Raleigh,  first 
vice-president;  Dr.  I.  G.  Greer  of  Chapel  Hill,  second  vice-presi- 
dent; and  Dr.  Arthur  P.  Hudson  of  Chapel  Hill,  secretary- 
treasurer.  Designated  to  serve  on  the  proposed  council  to  be 
set  up  by  the  various  cultural  societies  were:  Dr.  W.  Amos 
Abrams  and  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Clark,  both  of  Raleigh. 

The  State  Literary  and  Historical  Association  held  its  fifty- 
first  annual  session  in  Raleigh  on  December  7.  At  the  morning 
meeting  Mr.  E.  Lawrence  Lee  of  Chapel  Hill  read  a  paper  on 
"Old  Brunswick — the  Birth  and  Death  of  a  Colonial  Town"; 
Mrs.  Frances  Gray  Patton  of  Durham  delivered  an  address  on 
"How  it  Feels  to  be  a  Writer";  and  Dr.  Frontis  W.  Johnston 
of  Davidson  gave  a  review  of  North  Carolina  works  of  non- 
fiction  of  the  year.  At  the  subscription  dinner  Dr.  Charles  S. 
Sydnor  spoke  on  his  experiences  last  year  at  Oxford  University. 
At  the  evening  meeting  Mr.  Robert  Lee  Humber  of  Greenville 
delivered  the  presidential  address,  Dr.  Douglas  S.  Freeman  of 
Richmond,  Virginia,  delivered  an  address,  "Unsolved  Mysteries 
in  the  Life  of  George  Washington,"  and  Judge  S.  J.  Ervin,  Jr., 


152  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

governor  of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants  in  North 
Carolina,  announced  the  Mayflower  Society  award  to  Jonathan 
Daniels  for  The  Man  of  Independence,  voted  the  best  work  of 
non-fiction  published  during  the  year  by  a  resident  North  Caro- 
linian. A  reception  to  members  and  guests  of  the  association 
followed.  At  a  business  meeting  Dr.  Frontis  W.  Johnston  was 
elected  president ;  Dr.  Alice  B.  Keith  of  Raleigh,  Mr.  J.  Lawrence 
Sprunt  of  Wilmington,  and  Mr.  B.  S.  Colburn  of  Biltmore  Forest 
were  elected  vice-presidents;  and  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden 
of  Raleigh  was  re-elected  secretary-treasurer.  Mrs.  John  A. 
Kellenberger  of  Greensboro  and  Dr.  L.  L.  Carpenter  of  Raleigh 
were  elected  to  the  executive  committee. 

On  December  10  Mr.  William  S.  Powell,  former  researcher 
for  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  became  a  member 
of  the  staff  of  the  library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 
For  a  few  months  Mr.  Powell  will  continue  to  make  his  home  in 
Raleigh,  commuting  to  Chapel  Hill. 

Books  received  include :  Stella  Brewer  Brookes,  Joel  Chandler 
Harris — Folklorist  (Athens:  University  of  Georgia  Press, 
1950)  ;  Richard  Barksdale  Harwell,  Songs  of  the  Confederacy 
(New  York:  Broadcast  Music,  Inc.,  1951)  ;  Catherine  Harrod 
Mason,  James  Harrod  of  Kentucky  (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana 
State  University  Press,  1951)  ;  John  P.  Dyer,  The  Gallant  Hood 
(Indianapolis:  Bobbs-Merrill  Company,  1950)  ;  Jane  Lucas 
de  Grummond,  Envoy  to  Caracas:  The  Story  of  John  G.  A. 
Williamson,  Nineteenth-Century  Diplomat  (Baton  Rouge :  Louisi- 
ana State  University  Press,  1951)  ;  J.  H.  Easterby,  The  Colonial 
Records  of  South  Carolina — The  Journal  of  the  Commons  House 
of  Assembly,  November  10,  1736-June  7,  1739  (Columbia:  The 
Historical  Commission  of  South  Carolina,  1951)  ;  Frank  G.  Speck 
and  Leonard  Bloom  in  collaboration  with  Will  West  Long,  Chero- 
kee Dance  and  Drama  (Berkeley  and  Los  Angeles:  University  of 
California  Press,  1951)  ;  Willard  M.  Wallace,  Appeal  to  Arms:  A 
Military  History  of  the  American  Revolution  (New  York:  Harp- 
er &  Brothers,  1951)  ;  Kermit  Hunter,  Unto  These  Hills  (Chapel 
Hill:  University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  Frederick  Jack- 
son Turner,  The  United  States,  1830-1850:  The  Nation  and  Its  Sec- 


Historical  News  153 

tions  (New  York :  Peter  Smith,  1950)  ;  Mary  Ulmer  and  Samuel  E. 
Beck,  To  Make  My  Bread:  Preparing  Cherokee  Foods  (Cherokee, 
North  Carolina:  Museum  of  the  Cherokee  Indian,  1951)  ;  They 
Gave  Us  Freedom:  The  American  Struggles  for  Life,  Liberty  and 
the  Pursuit  of  Happiness,  as  Seen  in  Portraits,  Sculptures,  His- 
torical Paintings  and  Documents  of  the  Period,  1761-1789  (Wil- 
liamsburg, Virginia:  Colonial  Williamsburg  and  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  1951)  ;  Clarence  Edwin  Carter,  Territorial 
Papers  of  the  United  States,  volume  XV,  Louisiana-Missouri 
Territory,  1815-1821  (Washington:  United  States  Government 
Printing  Office,  1951)  ;  Alexander  A.  Lawrence,  Storm  over 
Savannah:  The  Story  of  Count  d'Estaing  and  the  Siege  of  the 
Town  in  1779  (Athens:  The  University  of  Georgia  Press,  1951)  ; 
Quentin  Oliver  McAllister,  The  Southern  Humanities  Confer- 
ence: Business  Executives  and  the  Humanities  (Chapel  Hill:  The 
University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  J.  0.  Bailey  and 
Sturgis  E.  Leavitt,  The  Southern  Humanities  Conference  and  Its 
Constituent  Societies  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North 
Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  Daniel  Walker  Hollis,  University  of  South 
Carolina,  volume  I,  South  Carolina  College  (Columbia:  Univer- 
sity of  South  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  James  B.  McNair,  Simon 
Cameron's  Adventure  in  Iron,  1837-1846  (Los  Angeles:  pub- 
lished by  the  author,  1950)  ;  George  W.  Williams,  St.  Michael's, 
Charleston,  1751-1951  (Columbia:  University  of  South  Carolina 
Press,  1951)  ;  James  Logan  Godfrey,  Revolutionary  Justice:  A 
Study  of  the  Organization,  Personnel,  and  Procedure  of  the  Paris 
Tribunal,  1793-1795,  The  James  Sprunt  Studies  in  History  and 
Political  Science,  volume  XXXIII  (Chapel  Hill:  University  of 
North  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  John  G.  Shott,  The  Railroad  Monop- 
oly: An  Instrument  of  Banker  Control  of  the  American  Economy 
(Washington :  Public  Affairs  Institute,  [1951] )  ;  Meyer  H.  Fish- 
bein  and  Elaine  C.  Bennett,  Preliminary  Inventories,  no.  32 — 
Records  of  the  Accounting  Department  of  the  Office  of  Price 
Administration  (Washington:  The  National  Archives  and  Rec- 
ords Service,  General  Services  Administration,  1951)  ;  William 
F.  Shonkwiler,  Preliminary  Inventories,  no.  33 — Records  of  the 
Bureau  of  Ordnance  (Washington:  The  National  Archives  and 
Records  Service,  General  Services  Administration,  1951)  ;  Ed- 
ward F.  Martin,  Preliminary  Inventories,  no.  34 — Records  of  the 


154  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Solid  Fuels  Administration  for  War  (Washington :  The  National 
Archives  and  Records  Service,  General  Services  Administration, 
1951)  ;  Chalmers  Gaston  Davidson,  Piedmont  Partisan:  The  Life 
and  Times  of  Brigadier-General  William  Lee  Davidson  (David- 
son, North  Carolina:  Davidson  College,  1951)  ;  Martin  W.  Ham- 
ilton, The  Papers  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  volume  X  (Albany: 
The  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  1951)  ;  C.  Vann 
Woodward,  Origins  of  the  Neiv  South,  1877-1918  volume  IX  of 
A  History  of  the  South  (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana  State  Univer- 
sity Press  and  the  Littlefield  Fund  for  Southern  History  of  the 
University  of  Texas,  1951)  ;  Helen  G.  Edmonds,  The  Negro  and 
Fusion  Politics  in  North  Carolina,  1894-1901  (Chapel  Hill:  The 
University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ;  Blanche  Egerton 
Baker,  Mrs.  G.  I.  Joe  (Goldsboro;  Blanche  Egerton  Baker, 
1951)  ;  Joel  Francis  Paschal,  Mr.  Justice  Sutherland  (Princeton, 
New  Jersey:  Princeton  University  Press,  1951)  ;  R.  V.  Cole- 
man, Liberty  and  Property  (New  York:  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  1951)  ;  Gayle  Thornbrough  and  Dorothy  Riker,  Journals 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  Indiana  Territory,  1805-1815, 
Indiana  Historical  Collections,  volume  XXXII  (Indianapolis: 
Indiana  Historical  Bureau,  1950)  ;  David  Duncan  Wallace, 
History  of  Wofford  College  185U-19U9  (Nashville,  Tennes- 
see: Vanderbilt  University  Press,  1951)  ;  Roberta  D.  Cor- 
nelius, The  History  of  Randolph-Macon  Woman's  College: 
From  the  Founding  in  1891  Through  the  Year  of  19  U9 -19  50 
(Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  1951)  ; 
James  F.  Hopkins,  A  History  of  the  Hemp  Industry  in  Ken- 
tucky (Lexington:  University  of  Kentucky  Press,  1951)  ;  J.  F.  J. 
Caldwell,  The  History  of  a  Brigade  of  South  Carolinians  Knoivn 
First  as  "Gregg's,"  and  Subsequently  as  "McGowan's  Brigade" 
(Marietta,  Georgia:  Continental  Book  Company,  1951);  Wil- 
liam Dosite  Postell,  The  Health  of  Slaves  on  Southern  Planta- 
tions (Baton  Rouge:  Louisiana  State  University  Press,  1951)  ; 
Percy  E.  and  Calvin  Goodrich,  A  Great-Grandmother  and  Her 
People  (Winchester,  Indiana:  Privately  Printed,  1951)  ;  Douglas 
Southall  Freeman,  George  Washington:  A  Biography,  volume 
III,  Planter  and  Patriot;  volume  IV,  Leader  of  the  Revolution 
(New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1951)  ;  Richard  K.  Mur- 
doch, The  Georgia-Florida  Frontier,  1793-1796:  Spanish  Reac- 


Historical  News  155 

tion  to  French  Intrigue  and  American  Designs,  University  of 
California  Publications  in  History,  volume  XL  (Berkeley  and 
Los  Angeles:  University  of  California  Press,  1951)  ;  John  Rich- 
ard Alden,  General  Charles  Lee:  Traitor  or  Patriot?  (Baton 
Rouge:  Louisiana  State  University  Press,  1951);  A  Friendly 
Mission:  John  Candler's  Letters  from  America,  1853-1854,  In- 
dianapolis Historical  Society  Publications,  volume  XVI,  number  1 
(Indianapolis,  1951)  ;  Federal  Records  of  World  War  II,  volume 
I,  Civilian  Agencies;  volume  II,  Military  Agencies  (Washington: 
General  Services  Administration,  National  Archives  and  Records 
Service,  The  National  Archives,  1950  and  [volume  II]  1951 ; 
Clarence  Griffin,  Essays  on  North  Carolina  History  (Forest  City, 
N.  C. :  The  Forest  City  Courier,  1951)  ;  Edgar  W.  Knight,  Educa- 
tion in  the  United  States  (Boston:  Ginn  and  Company,  1951)  ; 
Calvin  B.  Hoover  and  B.  U.  Ratchford,  Economic  Resources  and 
Policies  of  the  South  (New  York:  The  Macmillan  Company, 
1950)  ;  W.  C.  Dula  and  A.  C.  Simpson,  Durham  and  Her  People 
(Durham,  N.  C. :  The  Citizens  Press,  1951)  ;  E.  Merton  Coulter, 
College  Life  in  the  Old  South  (Athens :  The  University  of  Georgia 
Press,  1951)  ;  Allen  P.  Tankersley,  College  Life  at  Old  Ogle- 
thorpe (Athens:  The  University  of  Georgia  Press,  1951)  ;  Allen 
Johnston  Going,  Bourbon  Democracy  in  Alabama,  1874-1890 
(University:  University  of  Alabama  Press,  1951)  ;  James  H. 
Rodabaugh  and  Mary  Jane  Rodabaugh,  Nursing  in  Ohio:  A  His- 
tory (Columbus,  Ohio:  The  Ohio  State  Nurses'  Association, 
1951). 


CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THIS  ISSUE 

Dr.  Douglas  LeTell  Rights  is  acting  archivist  of  the  Moravian 
Church,  Southern  Province,  and  a  Moravian  minister  of  Winston- 
Salem. 

Dr.  James  S.  Purcell  is  associate  professor  of  English  at 
Davidson  College,  Davidson. 

Dr.  James  High  is  acting  assistant  professor  of  history  in  the 
University  of  Washington  at  Seattle. 

Dr.  Joseph  Davis  Applewhite  is  assistant  professor  of  history 
at  the  University  of  Redlands  in  Redlands,  California. 

Mr.  William  T.  Alderson  is  a  graduate  student  and  teaching 
fellow  at  Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

Dr.  Mary  Callum  Wiley,  daughter  of  Calvin  Henderson  Wiley 
and  former  head  of  the  department  of  English  at  R.  J.  Reynolds 
High  School  in  Winston-Salem,  is  the  author  of  a  daily  column, 
"Mostly  Local,"  in  the  Tivin-City  Daily  Sentinel,  Winston-Salem. 

Dr.  Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson  is  a  reference  consultant 
of  the  Manuscript  Division  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  Washing- 
ton. 


[156] 


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THE 


North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 


Issued  Quarterly 


Volume  XXIX 


Number  2 


APRIL,  1952 


Published  by 

STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Corner  of  Eden  ton  and  Salisbury  streets 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


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<    « 


THE 'NORTH  CAROLINA  HISTORICAL  REVIEW 


Published  by  the  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History 

Raleigh,  N.  C. 


Christopher  Crittenden,  Editor 
David  Leroy  Coreitt,  Managing  Editor 


ADVISORY  EDITORIAL  BOARD 
Walter  Clinton  Jackson  Hugh  Talmage  Lefler 

Frontis  Withers  Johnston  Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

George  Myers  Stephens 


STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Benjamin  Franklin  Brown,  Chairman 
Gertrude  Sprague  Carraway  McDaniel  Lewis 

Clarence  W.  Griffin  Mrs.  Sadie  Smathers  Patton 

William  Thomas  Laprade  Mrs.  Gallie  Pridgen  Williams 

Christopher  Crittenden,  Director 


This  review  was  established  in  January,  1924,  as  a  medium  of  publication 
and  discussion  of  history  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  issued  to  other  institutions 
by  exchange,  but  to  the  general  public  by  subscription  only.  The  regular 
price  is  $2.00  per  year.  To  members  of  the  State  Literary  and  Historical 
Association  there  is  a  special  price  of  $1.00  per  year.  Back  numbers  may  be 
procured  at  the  regular  price  of  $2.00  per  volume,  or  $.50  per  number. 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  APRIL,  1952  Number  2 

CONTENTS 

THE  BAR  EXAMINATION  AND  BEGINNING  YEARS 
OF  LEGAL  PRACTICE  IN  NORTH 
CAROLINA,  1820-1860 159 

Fannie  Memory  Farmer 

ELECTIONEERING  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  1800-1835  171 

John  Chalmers  Vinson 

JIM  POLK  GOES  TO  CHAPEL  HILL 189 

Charles  Grier  Sellers,  Jr. 

THE  HATTERAS  EXPEDITION,  AUGUST,  1861 204 

James  M.  Merrill 

PAPER  MANUFACTURING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 220 

Ernest  M.  Lander,  Jr. 

PAPERS  FROM  THE  FIFTY-FIRST  ANNUAL  SESSION 
OF  THE  STATE  LITERARY  AND  HISTORICAL 
ASSOCIATION,  Raleigh,  December  7,  1951 

INTRODUCTION    228 

Christopher  Crittenden 

OLD  BRUNSWICK,  THE  STORY  OF  A  COLONIAL 
TOWN    230 

E.  Lawrence  Lee,  Jr. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  NON-FICTION  WORKS 

FOR  1951 246 

Frontis  W.  Johnston 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO  ANDREW 

JOHNSON    259 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

NORTH  CAROLINA  BIBLIOGRAPHY,  1950-1951 269 

Mary  Lindsay  Thornton 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  September  29,  1928,  at  the  Post  Office  at 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1879. 

[i] 


BOOK  REVIEWS   278 

Edmonds's  The  Negro  and  Fusion  Politics  in  North 
Carolina,  1894-1901 — By  Preston  W.  Edsall;  Rec- 
ord's The  Negro  and  the  Communist  Party — By  Pres- 
ton W.  Edsall;  Dula's  and  Simpson's  Durham  and 
Her  People — By  D.  J.  Whitener;  Taylor's  Survey  of 
Marine  Fisheries  of  North  Carolina — By  David  H. 
Wallace;  Bailey's  and  Leavitt's  The  Southern  Hu- 
manities Conference  and  Its  Constituent  Societies — By 
M.  L.  Skaggs;  Going's  Bourbon  Democracy  in  Alabama 
— By  Frontis  W.  Johnston  ;  Carter's  The  Territorial 
Papers  of  the  United  States — By  Walter  H.  Ryle; 
Loth's  The  People's  General:  The  Personal  Story  of 
Lafayette — By  May  Davis  Hill  ;  Fishbein's  and  Ben- 
nett's Records  of  the  Accounting  Department  of  the 
Office  of  Price  Administration,  Shonkwiler's  Records 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  and  Martin's  Records  of 
the  Solid  Fuels  Administration  for  War,  Preliminary 
Inventories  of  the  National  Archives,  numbers  32,  33, 
and  34 — By  Dorothy  Dodd. 

HISTORICAL  NEWS 295 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  APRIL,  1952  Number  2 

THE  BAR  EXAMINATION  AND  BEGINNING  YEARS  OF 
LEGAL  PRACTICE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  1820-1860 

By  Fannie  Memory  Farmer 

Before  a  young  man  could  launch  out  on  a  legal  career  a 
century  ago  he  was  faced  with  the  same  problem  which  aspirants 
have  today.  He  had  to  go  through  what  is  known  as  a  bar 
examination.  The  feelings  of  those  young  men  were  not  different 
from  those  of  candidates  in  the  twentieth  century.  The  boys, 
no  matter  how  thorough  their  preparation  had  been,  felt  a 
twinge  of  nervousness  as  they  approached  the  august  judges. 
A  son  of  Justice  Thomas  Ruffin,  William  K.  Ruffin,  wrote  to 
his  father  in  1833  that  he  was  really  afraid  to  appear  as  a 
candidate  for  a  license.  He  had  begun  to  realize  the  fact  that 
he  was  inadequately  prepared  and  had  not  studied  enough.  He 
confided  to  his  father  that  he  was  determined  to  be  a  more 
careful  student  after  he  obtained  his  license  than  he  had  been 
in  the  months  just  past.  He  felt  worried  about  some  of  the  fine 
distinctions  of  certain  points  of  law  and  admitted  that  "The 
chapter  on  Assumpsit  I  think  the  most  difficult,  because  perhaps 
I  cannot  understand  his  leading  distinction,  for  though  I  read 
it  twice  I  cannot  tell  when  a  special  assumpsit  should  be  brought 
and  when  a  General  hidebitatis  Assumpsit"1  It  is  easy  to  feel 
sympathetic  with  young  Ruffin. 

While  preparing  for  the  bar  examination,  some  of  the  students 
attempted  to  find  out  from  the  judges  which  subjects  they  should 
stress  in  their  studies.  In  1840  Tod  R.  Caldwell  wrote  to  Thomas 
Ruffin: 

I  wish  to  get  some  advice  from  you  relative  to  a  course  of 
reading.  My  intention  at  present  is,  to  make  application,  at  the 
next  session  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  license  to  practice  in  the 

1  Joseph  Gregoire   de  Roulhac   Hamilton,    editor,    The   Papers   of   Thomas   Ruffin    (Raleigh, 
1918-1920),  II,  79-80. 

[159] 


160  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

County  Courts  and  I  have  already  read  and  reviewed  second 
and  third  Blackstone,  Walker's  Introduction  to  American  Law 
and  Stephen  on  Pleading.  Gov:  Swain  had  advised  me  to  take 
up  Chitty  on  Contracts  but  on  application  to  Messrs.  Turner 
and  Hughes  I  find  that  that  book  is  not  to  be  had.  It  is  not 
thro'  want  of  confidence  in  any  recommendations  that  the  Gov: 
may  make  that  I  now  solicit  your  advice;  but  because  I  am 
confident  that  it  necessarily  follows  from  the  situation  which 
you  occupy,  that  you  must  be  more  intimately  acquainted  with 
what  is  expected  of  young  men  by  your  court,  when  they  make 
application  for  license.  I  am  sorry  that  I  neglected  the  opportuni- 
ty of  conversing  with  you  on  this  subject,  when  I  last  saw  you.2 

From  1760,  when  the  court  began  to  examine  applicants,  to 
1880,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  definite  amount  of  time  for 
study  was  required  before  an  applicant  could  take  the  bar  exam- 
ination. From  1760  to  1904  there  was  no  supervision  of  legal 
studies.3  The  lack  of  strict  requirements  is  well  illustrated  by 
the  case  of  Robert  Rufus  Bridgers,  a  graduate  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  class  of  1841.  He  studied  law  in  his  spare 
time  during  his  senior  year  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  a  week 
after  graduation.  This  haphazard  method  of  preparation  was 
criticised  by  Chief  Justice  Ruffin,  who  said  it  would  either  inter- 
fere with  college  studies  or  impair  the  health  of  the  student. 
The  court  hoped  to  reject  Bridgers;  but,  though  the  justices 
examined  him  at  great  length,  he  gained  admission  to  the  bar.4 
Despite  the  oral  criticism  of  the  system  by  the  court,  nothing 
was  done  to  remedy  the  situation  for  years.  Students  continued 
to  appear  before  the  judges  when  they  felt  well  enough  prepared 
to  pass  the  examination. 

The  North  Carolina  legislature  conferred  the  power  of  ad- 
mitting attorneys  to  the  bar  on  the  judges  of  the  Superior 
Courts  in  1754.  In  1818  the  power  was  given  to  two  or  more 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court;  this  law  was  in  effect  until  1869.5 
If  the  judges  found  a  candidate  to  be  qualified,  so  far  as  his 
knowledge  of  the  law  was  concerned,  and  of  good  moral  char- 
acter, he  was  given  a  certificate  to  practice  in  any  court  for 


2  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,   180-181. 

3  Albert    Coates,    "Standards    of   the    Bar,"    North   Carolina    Law    Review,    VI    (December, 
1927),    39,   41. 

*  Samuel    A'Court    Ashe,    Stephen    B.    Weeks,    and    Charles    L.    Van    Noppen,    editors,    Bio- 
graphical History   of  North  Carolina    (Greensboro,    1905-1917),   I,    173. 
5  In  re  Applicants  for  License,   143   N.  C.   11    (1906). 


The  Bar  Examination  161 

which  the  judges  deemed  him  qualified.6  At  this  time  the  exam- 
ination was  oral.7 

The  date  for  the  examination  for  admission  to  the  bar  was 
not  established  at  a  fixed  time  as  it  is  today.  William  A.  Graham 
wrote  in  1827  that  he  had  appeared  for  questioning  on  a  par- 
ticular morning  but  that  Judges  Hall  and  Taylor  did  not  attend 
court  that  day.  Consequently,  his  examination  had  been  deferred 
till  that  night  or  the  next  morning.8  Imagine  the  consternation 
the  boy  must  have  felt  at  having  this  important  event  nonchalant- 
ly postponed  a  day!  In  1838  the  Supreme  Court  provided  that 
"All  applicants  for  admission  to  the  Bar  must  present  them- 
selves for  examination  during  the  first  seven  days  of  the  term."9 
This  put  some  limit  on  the  time  in  which  the  law  student  could 
try  for  his  license,  but  the  time  was  still  none  too  definite. 

At  this  period  of  legal  history,  the  law  required  two  exam- 
inations— one  for  a  County  Court  license  and  one  for  a  Superior 
Court  license ;  and  the  Court  required  the  lapse  of  a  year  between 
the  granting  of  the  two.10  As  was  true  of  many  of  its  ukases, 
the  Court  did  not  strictly  enforce  this  regulation.  For  example, 
William  H.  Battle  was  so  thoroughly  prepared  when  he  pre- 
sented himself  that  the  Supreme  Court  granted  him  County 
and  Superior  Court  licenses  at  a  single  term.11 

In  many  cases  the  bar  examiners  had  taught  several  of  the 
applicants.  The  leaders  of  the  bar  during  this  period  served  on 
the  bench;  the  leaders  also  engaged  in  teaching  and  conducting 
the  most  successful  law  schools.  Because  the  judges  had  often 
taught  the  examinees,  they  frequently  knew  the  capacities  of 
individuals  taking  the  examination;  in  fact,  most  of  the  appli- 
cants were  known  to  at  least  one  of  the  members  of  the  examining 


6  Henry  Potter,  John  Louis  Taylor,  Bartlett  Yancey,  editors,  Laws  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  including  the  Titles  of  such  Statutes  and  Parts  of  Statutes  of  Great  Britain  as 
Are  in  Force  in  Said  State;  Together  with  the  Second  Charter  Granted  by  Charles  II.  to 
the  Proprietors  of  Carolina;  The  Great  Deed  of  Grant  from  the  Lords  Proprietors;  The 
Grant  from  George  II.  to  John  Lord  Granville;  The  Bill  of  Rights  and  Constitution  of  the 
State,  including  the  Names  of  the  Members  of  the  Convention  that  formed  the  same;  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  the  Amendments;  and  The  Treaty  of  Peace  of  1783; 
with  Marginal  Notes  and  References  (Raleigh,  1821),  I,  Ch.  115,  Sec.  7,  284.  Hereinafter 
cited  Revised  Code  of  1821.  See  also  Bartholomew  F.  Moore  and  Asa  Biggs,  editors,  The 
Revised  Code  of  North  Carolina  (n.  p.,  [1852]),  Ch.  VIII,  Sec.  1,  18.  Hereinafter  cited 
Revised  Code  of   1852. 

7  Charles  F.  Warren,  "The  President's  Address,"  Report  of  the  Second  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  North  Carolina  Bar  Association,  Held  at  Battery  Park  Hotel,  Asheville,  N.  C, 
June  27th,  28th,  and  29th,  1900    (Durham,  1900),   117. 

8  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  I,   370. 

9  "Rules  of  Court,"  20  N.   C.   324    (1838). 

10  Kemp  Plummer  Battle,  Memories  of  an  Old-Time  Tar  Heel,  edited  by  William  James 
Battle    (Chapel  Hill,   1945),   81. 

11  Obituaries,  Funeral  and  Proceedings  of  the  Bar  in  Memory  of  the  Late  Hon.  Wm.  H. 
Battle    (Raleigh,   1879),  22. 


162  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

board.12  In  many  respects  this  was  an  advantage  to  the  pros- 
pective lawyers,  for  the  judges  were  more  apt  to  take  a  personal 
interest  in  the  young  men  whom  they  knew  than  in  those 
absolutely  unknown  to  them.  They  were  also  likely  to  take  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  the  applicants  might  not  do  quite  so 
well  under  the  strain  of  an  examination  as  they  could  do  under 
more  favorable  circumstances. 

Good  moral  character  was  a  prerequisite  to  admission  to  the 
legal  profession  in  the  nineteenth  century,  just  as  it  is  in  the 
twentieth  century.  A  certificate  to  the  effect  that  a  man  was  of 
upright  character  was  regarded  as  prima  facie  evidence  of 
his  moral  fitness.13 

Some  of  the  letters  of  recommendation  to  the  Supreme  Court 
are  interesting.  Wright  C.  Stanley  wrote  to  Thomas  Ruffin  in 
1830  saying  he  had  known  the  applicant,  Hamilton  Graham, 
since  infancy.  He  added  that  he  would  appreciate  it  if  Ruffin 
would  "extend  civilities  and  attentions  .  .  ."  to  the  boy.14  John 
Giles  wrote  a  recommendation  for  Burton  Craige  saying  that 
Craige  had  been  deprived  of  his  parents  before  he  finished 
school  but  "without  the  aid  of  these  two  kind  and  best  friends 
.  .  .  ,"  he  had  made  good  in  his  studies.15  James  T.  Morehead 
wrote  on  January  12,  1831,  that  the  bearer  of  the  letter,  Joseph 
C.  Meggison,  was  visiting  Raleigh  with  the  idea  of  securing 
his  law  license.  Morehead  said  that  the  recommendation  was 
a  second-hand  one.  George  Tomas  had  spoken  well  of  the  appli- 
cant and  had  asked  Morehead  to  write  to  Ruffin  on  Meggison's 
behalf.  Thomas  did  not  himself  write  because  he  and  Ruffin  were 
not  acquainted.  Morehead  assured  Ruffin  that  he  had  heard  the 
aspirant  spoken  of  "in  highly  respectable  terms  .  .  ."  by  other 
men.16 

James  C.  Dobbin  wrote  to  J.  J.  Daniel  that  Robert  Strange, 
Jr.,  "possesses  more  moral  qualities  than  are  well  calculated 
to  adorn  the  profession  he  has  assumed."17  William  Gaston, 
writing  about  one  hopeful  applicant,  "Mr.  Sparrow,"  said  that 
the  boy's  father's  calamities  had  induced  Sparrow  to  apply  for 


12  "The  North  Carolina  Bar,"  North  Carolina  Journal  of  Law,  I    (January,  1904),  2. 

13  Reed    Kitchen,    "Applicant's    Character    for    Admission    to    Bar,"    North    Carolina    Law 
Review,   II    (December,    1924),   234. 

14  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  16-17. 
ir>  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  54. 

16  Hamilton,   Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  20. 

17  Hamilton,   Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,   II,   232. 


The  Bar  Examination  163 

a  license  earlier  than  he  had  intended.  However,  the  boy  was 
diligent  and  would  hasten  to  make  up  his  deficiencies  in  case 
he  seemed  to  be  unprepared  at  the  examination.18  William  N.  H. 
Smith  observed  that  applicant  A.  P.  Yancey  might  appear  to  a 
disadvantage  because  of  the  embarrassment  of  an  examination, 
but  Smith  felt  certain  that  Yancey's  attainments  were  sufficient 
to  entitle  him  to  practice  in  the  higher  courts  of  the  state.19 

It  is  obvious  that  a  personal  element  entered  strongly  into 
the  matter  of  the  bar  examination  during  the  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  Individual  problems  and  difficulties  were  often 
mentioned;  undoubtedly,  the  examining  judges  were  influenced 
by  the  statements  of  their  fellow  lawyers  as  to  the  fitness  of 
those  aspiring  to  the  law.  The  legal  profession  was  not  over- 
crowded; the  judges  did  not  prepare  extremely  difficult  exam- 
inations for  the  boys  who  came  before  them.  Ambition  and  a 
willingness  to  work  were  assets  to  be  taken  into  account  in 
determining  the  quality  of  the  law  student  seeking  recognition 
as  a  full-fledged  attorney. 

Though  it  appears  that  failure  to  pass  the  bar  examination 
was  an  almost  unheard-of  thing,  nearly  every  applicant  felt 
uneasy  about  taking  the  oral  examination  from  the  justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  Kemp  P.  Battle  hoped  to  have  a  perfect 
examination,  as  he  thought  he  knew  everything  in  the  textbooks. 
Though  Pearson  asked  him  a  question  he  did  not  know,  he  was 
granted  a  license.20  Surprise  was  sometimes  expressed  at  the 
unusually  good  results  accomplished  by  certain  students.  For 
example,  Frederick  Nash,  writing  to  his  son  about  a  newly 
licensed  lawyer,  said  that  he  had  learned  from  Judge  Ruffin 
that  the  boy  obtained  his  license  with  much  ease  and  that  his 
examination  had  been  very  good,  "much  to  my  surprise."21 

There  was  a  general  rule  that  licenses  should  not  be  issued 
before  the  twenty-first  birthday.  The  Supreme  Court,  however, 
did  not  hold  to  this  regulation  with  uniform  strictness.  Duncan  K. 
McRae  wrote  to  the  Court  requesting  that  his  license  be  issued 
nine  days  "earlier  than  the  Law  suggests  .  .  ."  so  that  he  might 
begin  practicing  at  the  opening  of  the  Onslow  County  Court.22 


18  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  215. 
"Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  289. 

20  Battle,  Memories  of  an  Old-Time   Tar  Heel,   108. 

21  Frederick  Nash  to  his  son,  Fred  Nash,   [month?]  29,  1839,  Nash  Papers,  North  Carolina 
Department  of  Archives   and   History,    Raleigh. 

28  Hamilton,  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  195. 


164  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  Court  decided  to  overlook  the  nonage  of  George  E.  Badger, 
licensed  in  1815,  because  of  "the  narrowness  of  his  fortunes  and 
the  dependance  of  his  mother  and  sisters  upon  his  exertions 
for  their  support.23 

Successful  applicants  received  licenses  worded  much  like  the 
law  licenses  of  today. 

The  State  of  North  Carolina:  To  the  justices  (or  judges)  of 
the  county  (or  superior)   courts  within  the  state: 

Whereas  hath   applied  to  me  ,  and 

and  judges  of  the  supreme  court  of 

North  Carolina,  for  admission  to  practice  as  an  attorney  and 
counsellor,  in  the  several  county  (or  superior)  courts  within 
the  state  aforesaid  we  do  hereby  certify  that  he  hath  produced 
to  us  sufficient  testimonials  of  his  upright  character,  and  upon 
an  examination  had  before  us,  is  found  to  possess  a  competent 
knowledge  of  the  law,  to  entitle  him  to  admission  according  to 
his  said  examination. 

Given  under  our  hands  at  ,  this  day  of  , 

18 .2* 

The  license  having  been  issued,  the  new  attorney  had  to  be 
sworn  in  in  open  court,25  a  requirement  still  obtaining.  There 
were  three  required  oaths.  The  first  was  the  attorney's  oath. 

I, ,  do  swear  or  affirm  that  I  will  truly  and  honestly 

demean  myself  in  the  practice  of  an  attorney  according  to  my 
best  knowledge  and  ability;  so  help  me  God. 

The  second  oath  was  one  of  allegiance  to  the  state  of  North 
Carolina  and  its  constitution;  the  third  required  a  pledge  of 
allegiance  to  the  United  States  Constitution.26 

Even  the  passing  of  the  examination  and  the  taking  of  the 
three  oaths  did  not  enable  the  attorney  to  enter  upon  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  Before  he  could  practice,  a  new  lawyer  had 
to  pay  a  tax  on  his  license  and  to  produce  the  receipt  of  the 
clerk  showing  that  the  license  tax  had  been  paid.  The  tax  was 
paid  to  the  clerk  of  the  court  in  which  the  attorney  first  ex- 
hibited his  license.27  Several  years  later  a  statute  provided  that 
the  tax  be  paid  to  the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  when  the 


23  W.  J.  Peele,  editor,   Lives  of  Distinguished  North  Carolinians    (Raleigh,   1898),   185. 

24  Edward  Cantwell,   The  Practice  at  Law  in  North  Carolina    (Raleigh,   1860),   I,  121. 
2C  Revised  Code   of   1852,   Ch.   VIII,    Sec.   3,    18. 

20  Cantwell,   The  Practice  at  Law  in  North  Carolina,  I,   122. 
27  Revised  Code   of   1821,   Ch.  698,   Sees.   1   and  2,    1064. 


The  Bar  Examination  165 

license  was  granted.  The  judge  handed  over  the  license  to  one 
of  the  clerks ;  the  clerk  then  passed  the  license  back  to  the  new 
attorney  after  payment  of  the  tax.28  In  1852  this  tax  was  set 
at  $10.00  ;29  it  was  later  raised  to  $15.00.30  In  discussing  the 
license  tax  in  1827,  Chief  Justice  Taylor  said : 

On  the  subject  of  your  enquiry  I  am  able  to  state,  that  the 
practise  has  been  invariable  when  two  licenses  have  been  granted, 
to  require  a  tax  of  £5  for  a  county  court  license,  and  an  addi- 
tional tax  of  £10  for  a  general  license.  I  know  too  that  it  was 
a  principal  motive  with  Judge  Haywood  in  giving  a  general 
license  at  first  to  save  to  poor  young  men  the  additional  tax. 

I  cannot  call  to  mind  a  single  exception  to  the  practise  first 
stated;  and  you  remember  the  Judges  until  a  few  years  ago, 
were  accustomed  to  collect  the  tax,  and  account  for  it  to  the 
comptroller.  We  always  received  £5  for  a  county  court  license 
and  £10  for  a  superior  court  one.  I  remember  too  having  paid 
both  taxes.31 

After  going  through  all  of  the  procedure  outlined  above,  the 
admission  of  the  new  attorney  to  the  bar  caused  little  fanfare 
or  comment  in  the  newspapers  of  the  day.  Simple  notices  such 
as  the  following,  which  appeared  in  the  Raleigh  Register  on 
June  17,  1848,  were  common.  "The  following  gentlemen  under- 
went an  examination  before  this  Court  on  Tuesday  last,  and 
were  fully  admitted  to  Superior  Court  License.  .  .  ."32  A  list 
of  the  names  of  those  who  had  passed  was  printed  after  the 
preliminary  statement.  After  each  term  of  the  Supreme  Court 
the  newspapers  printed  similar  notices  of  County  and  Superior 


28  The  money  collected  from  this  source  was  used  in  defraying  the  costs  of  state  prosecution 
and  contingent  county  expenses.  Revised  Code  of  1821,  Ch.  769,  Sec.  1,  1155.  The  Supreme 
Court  Clerk  was  required  to  deposit  license  tax  moneys  in  the  public  treasury  within  two 
months  after  their  payment;  if  he  failed  to  perform  this  duty,  he  was  liable  on  his  official 
bond.  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  Passed  by  the  General  Assembly,  at  Its  Session  of 
18^6-U7:  Together  with  the  Comptroller's  Statement  of  Public  Revenue  and  Expenditure, 
Ch.  LXXII,  Sec.  7,   140.  Hereinafter  cited  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina. 

29  Of  this  $10.00  the  clerk  took  six  per  cent  as  his  commission.  Revised  Code  of  1852, 
Ch.  99,  Sec.  36,  209. 

30  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina,  (1856-1857),  Ch.  34,  Sec.  40,  40.  The  1858-1859  laws 
gave  the  clerk  a  five  per  cent  commission.  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (1858-1859), 
Ch.  25,  Sec.  93  (4),  57.  The  state  acquired  more  than  might  be  expected  from  this  source. 
The  treasurer's  report  from  October  31,  1850,  to  November  1,  1852,  shows  that  $210.00  was 
collected  in  January,  1851;  $180.00  in  June;  $400.00  in  January,  1852;  and  $180.00  in  July. 
See  "Public  Treasurer's  Report  to  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  for  the  Two  Fiscal 
Years  Ending  Nov.  1,  1852,"  in  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (1852),  4-7.  In  1853  the 
comptroller's  statement  showed  that  this  tax  yielded  $590.00.  In  1854  $550.00  came  from 
this  source.  See  "Statements  of  the  Comptroller  of  Public  Accounts,  for  the  Two  Fiscal 
Years  Ending  October  31st,  1853  and  1854,"  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (1854-1855), 
148-149,  183,  185.  The  amount  rose  steadily,  until,  in  1859,  $1,647.30  was  received.  See 
"Statements  of  the  Comptroller  of  Public  Accounts,  for  the  Two  Fiscal  Years  Ending 
September  30th,  1859  and  1860,"  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (1860-1861),  132.  At  this 
period,  the  Supreme  Court  held  sessions  in  Morganton  as  well  as  in  Raleigh.  The  Morganton 
clerk  was  instructed  to  apply  the  money  paid  to  him  toward  the  purchase  of  law  books  for 
a  Supreme  Court  library  in  Morganton.  Public  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (1850-1851),  Ch. 
XCIII,  Sec.  1,  164. 

31  Hamilton,   Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,   1,   421. 
82  Raleigh  Register,  June  17,  1848. 


166  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Court  licenses  that  had  been  issued.  The  names  of  new  lawyers 
first  appeared  in  the  reports  of  the  Supreme  Court  decisions 
in  1854.  This  brief  notice  gave  the  names  of  the  new  members 
of  the  bar  and  the  counties  from  which  they  came.33 

In  1824  the  Raleigh  Register  stated  that  "Another  young 
gentleman  applied  for  a  license,  but  being  born  an  alien  and  not 
naturalized,  he  was  not  examined."34  The  problem  of  admission 
of  aliens  to  the  North  Carolina  bar  and  of  comity  licenses  was 
not  definitely  settled  until  1824.  In  that  year  the  North  Carolina 
Supreme  Court  decided  that  aliens  would  not  be  allowed  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  because  the  licentiate  was  supposed  to  be  po- 
litically, as  well  as  legally  and  morally,  qualified  to  transact 
business  of  a  legal  nature  in  the  state  of  North  Carolina.  The 
court  stated  that  the  legal  profession  was  "  'in  its  nature  the 
noblest  and  most  beneficial  to  mankind ;  in  its  abuse  and  debase- 
ment the  most  sordid  and  pernicious/  .  .  ."35  No  person  coming 
into  North  Carolina  from  a  foreign  country  or  from  another 
state  would  be  admitted  to  practice  unless  he  had  previously 
resided  one  year  in  the  state  or  unless  he  could  produce  a  tes- 
timonial of  good  character  from  the  chief  magistrate  or  from 
some  other  competent  authority.36  The  statute  failed  to  define 
what  was  meant  by  competent  authority,  but  the  admissibility 
of  aliens  and  persons  from  other  states  does  not  seem  to  have 
caused  much  difficulty  in  North  Carolina. 

Most  North  Carolina  lawyers  were  native  born  and  so  there 
was  little  need  to  have  definitely  settled  rules  of  comity.  Several 
inquiries  to  Ruffin  expressed  ignorance  of  the  practice  of  granting 
comity  licenses  in  North  Carolina.  Warren  Winslow  wrote  in 
November,  1840,  that  he  had  an  Alabama  license  and  wanted 
an  examination  in  North  Carolina  at  the  close  of  the  December 
term.  He  was  wholly  uninformed  as  to  the  procedure  he  should 
take  in  arranging  for  such  an  examination.37 

After  being  admitted  to  the  legal  fraternity,  the  newly  licensed 
attorney  had  to  find  some  way  to  establish  himself  in  his  pro- 
fession, but  the  step  from  law  school  to  the  practice  of  law  was 
not  difficult  to  take.  His  training  had  been  practical,  and  the 


38  See  volume  46  of  the  North  Carolina  Supreme  Court  Reports,  5,  6. 

34  Raleigh  Register,  July  25,  1824. 

35  Ex  parte  Thompson,  10  N.  C.   364    (1824). 

M  Revised  Code  of  1821,  I,   Ch.  115,   Sec.   8,  284. 
37  Hamilton,   Papers  of   Thomas  Ruffin,   II,   189. 


The  Bar  Examination  167 

young  lawyer  had  some  idea  of  how  to  proceed  when  he  was 
favored  with  the  patronage  of  a  client.  In  the  later  years  of 
the  period,  the  training  became  more  theoretical  than  practical 
and  the  jump  into  practice  was  more  difficult  than  it  had  been. 
However,  older  lawyers  were  always  eager  to  offer  advice  to 
the  younger  members  of  the  profession. 

Frederick  Nash  wrote  to  his  recently  licensed  son,  shortly 
before  he  launched  his  legal  career. 

Let  the  community  see  that  you  are  determined  to  devote 
yourself  to  your  profession — they  will  have  confidence  in  you 
and  you  will  in  time  reap  your  reward — As  to  books  I  do  not 
know  exactly  what  to  say  or  do — You  must  take  with  you,  your 
brothers  Blackstone — &  Iredells  digest,  tell  him  I  will  let  him 
have  my  Iredell,  when  I  return,  he  must  not  be  without  a  copy 
— Take  also  my  Chitty  on  Civil  Pleading — &  first  and  2nd 
Phillips  on  Evidence — the  latter  you  will  find  very  useful,  in 
telling  you  what  pleas  to  enter,  in  the  various  kinds  of  actions 
&  what  is  the  evidence  appropriate  to  each.  It  is  a  very  useful 
book  to  a  young  beginer  [sic].  Take  also  Selwyns  Nisi 
Prius.  .  .  . 

Nash  said  further  that  his  son  should  have  the  North  Carolina 
Supreme  Court  Reports,  but  he  did  not  feel  that  he  could  afford 
to  buy  them  for  him.  He  suggested  that  his  son  use  the  set  of 
reports  in  the  clerk's  office  or  borrow  that  of  a  fellow  lawyer. 
He  urged  his  son  to  be  very  careful  about  money  and  to  regard 
what  he  advanced  to  him  as  a  sound  deposit,  to  be  used  for 
necessary  expenses  only.  He  wisely  advised  the  young  lawyer  to 
take  time  to  think  and  to  study  every  case  he  had.  In  closing, 
Nash  reminded  his  son  that  he  could  call  on  older  lawyers  when 
he  needed  help.  He  advised  him  that  if  he  was  "called  on  to  file 
a  Bill  in  Equity — old  Harrisons  Chancer  [y]  will  give  you  a  form 
or  you  can  get  one,  by  applying  to  M.  Worth  from  his  office." 
Nash  also  touched  on  the  personal  side  of  his  son's  new  life  by 
saying  "Remember  too  Shepard  you  will  not  have  your  mother 
to  darn  &  mend  for  you — be  careful  of  your  clothes.  .  .  ."38 
Judge  Gaston  wrote  to  a  young  lawyer,  John  L.  T.  Sneed,  in 
1842,  giving  him  a  little  fatherly  advice  on  beginning  his  legal 
career.  He  said: 


38  Frederick  Nash  to  Shepard  K.  Nash,  undated,  Nash  Papers,  North  Carolina  Department 
of  Archives  and   History,   Raleigh. 


168  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

You  have  entered  on  a  career  in  which  diligence  can  scarcely 
fail  to  secure  you  success.  Every  motive  that  can  be  addressed 
to  a  good  heart  and  a  sound  head  concurs  to  impress  upon  a 
lawyer,  the  conviction  that  he  owes  to  his  clients  the  utmost 
fidelity.  He  is  charged  with  the  interests  of  one  unable  to  act 
for  himself,  and  he  is  faithless  to  the  trust  if  he  leaves  any 
honorable  means  unexerted  to  secure  and  advance  those  in- 
terests. There  is  no  mode  so  sure  of  rising  to  eminence  in  the 
profession  as  the  exact,  punctual,  prompt  and  steady  discharge 
of  this  duty.  In  the  greater,  far  greater  number  of  cases,  in 
which  a  lawyer  is  engaged,  extraordinary  talents  are  not  re- 
quired; but  in  all  negligence  may  prove  fatally  destructive.  An 
established  reputation  for  diligence  must  therefore  command 
employment.  No  man  of  common  sense  can  be  willing  to  confide 
important  concerns  to  the  management  of  a  careless  Attorney. 
Next  to  diligence  in  the  discharge  of  the  immediate  duties 
which  you  owe  to  your  client,  is  the  obligation  of  endeavoring  to 
perfect  yourself  in  the  knowledge  of  your  profession.  Suffer 
no  day  to  pass  without  study,  Read  slowly — make  what  you 
read  your  own  by  eviscerating  the  principles  on  which  the 
doctrine  rests.  It  is  impossible  to  charge  the  memory  with  a 
vast  number  of  merely  arbitrary  distinctions ;  but  the  principles 
on  which  they  rest  are  few,  and  these  may  be  faithfully  treas- 
ured.39 

Nash's  and  Gaston's  advice  to  young  lawyers  of  their  acquaint- 
ance is  still  applicable,  and  any  modern  attorney  would  profit 
by  following  the  advice  laid  down  by  two  of  the  great  lawyers 
of  a  century  ago. 

Newly  licensed  lawyers,  full  of  advice  from  fathers  and 
friends,  generally  found  the  first  few  years  of  practice  unprofit- 
able from  a  financial  point  of  view.  They  sometimes  felt  insecure 
in  the  handling  of  the  first  bits  of  business  which  came  into 
their  offices,  but  experienced  members  of  the  bar  were  usually 
kind  and  willing  to  give  them  advice  and  aid.  Though  they  did 
not  have  much  business,  many  young  attorneys  made  a  point 
of  adhering  to  regular  hours  and  of  riding  the  circuits  in  several 
counties  so  as  to  attract  clients.  For  example,  James  C.  Dobbin, 
who  hung  out  his  shingle  in  Fayetteville  in  1835,  made  it  a 
practice  to  be  in  his  office  during  business  hours  whether  anyone 
called  or  not.  He  believed  that  this  regularity  contributed  greatly 
to  his  later  success.  Rather  than  seek  a  large  circuit  at  the 
beginning,  he  gave  his  time  and  energies  to  a  faithful  discharge 


89  North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  VII   (August,  1857),  37-38, 


The  Bar  Examination  169 

of  "chamber  practice"  and  in  attending  the  County  and  Superior 
Courts  of  Cumberland,  Sampson,  and  Robeson  counties.40  At- 
tendance at  the  County  and  Superior  Courts  of  three  counties 
would  seem  a  large  order  for  a  young  attorney  today,  but  evi- 
dently such  a  circuit  was  considered  a  moderate  one  one  hundred 
years  ago. 

Thomas  Ruffin,  Jr.,  wrote  to  his  mother  that  the  circuit  he 
had  just  completed  had  been  pleasant  and  the  judge  had  been 
"very  kind  and  indulgent  to  .  .  ."  him.41  Thomas  S.  Kenan 
related  the  experience  he  had  at  his  first  case.  He  was  licensed 
to  practice  in  the  County  Courts  in  1858  and  in  the  Superior 
Courts  in  December,  1859.  He  opened  his  office  in  1860,  and 
his  first  suit  was  the  collection  of  a  note  for  a  large  amount  of 
money.  When  Kenan  saw  the  docket  and  all  that  had  been  written 
there,  he  felt  inclined  "to  enter  a  nol  pros.,  leave  the  court  house, 
abandon  the  practice  and  engage  in  other  business.'*  Older 
lawyers  reassured  him;  he  completed  the  suit  and  won.  His 
fee  was  $4.00,  taxed  against  the  defendant  as  a  part  of  the 
costs.42  It  is  evident  that  the  older  members  of  the  bar  and  the 
judicial  officers  were  helpful  to  the  fledglings  on  more  than  one 
occasion. 

The  value  of  opening  an  office  in  a  small  town  or  city  and 
staying  in  it  whether  clients  came  or  not  proved  profitable  in 
the  long  run.  William  Horn  Battle  opened  an  office,  but  he  de- 
cided to  farm  on  the  side  while  waiting  for  clients.  He  lived  in 
the  country  for  five  years  and  his  practice  was  negligible;  he 
moved  at  the  end  of  that  time  and  devoted  all  of  his  attention 
to  the  law.  Quickly  he  built  up  a  large  practice.43 

The  remoteness  of  Battle's  office  from  his  home  probably  con- 
tributed to  his  early  failure  as  a  lawyer,  but  the  first  few  years 
of  practice  were  not  usually  crowded  with  work  for  new  lawyers. 
The  Raleigh  Register  related  an  anecdote  about  a  young  lawyer 
whose  time  was  not  fully  occupied.  The  writer  of  the  article 
observed  that  since  young  attorneys  had  little  to  do,  "during 
the  years  of  their  long  apprenticeship,  they  usually  make  most 
of  their  leisure,  in  maturing  schemes  of  frolic  and  fun,  which 


40  James   Banks,   "A   Biographical   Sketch   of  the  Late  James   C.  Dobbin,"   North   Carolina 
University    Magazine,    IX     (February,    1860),    322. 

41  Hamilton,   The  Papers  of  Thomas  Ruffin,  II,  494. 

42  Thomas  S.  Kenan,  "Remarks  by  Thos.  S.  Kenan,   President  of  Bar  Association,"  North 
Carolina  Journal  of  Law,  II    (August,   1905),  345-346. 

43  Battle,   Memories   of   an   Old-Time    Tar   Heel,    12-14. 


170  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

not  only  vastly  delight  themselves,  but  sometimes  provoke  even 
the  grave  and  reverend  seniors  of  the  profession  into  a  momen- 
tary oblivion  of  briefs  and  fee,  green  bag  and  greener  clients."44 
If  the  above  statement  can  be  taken  literally,  the  lawyers,  during 
the  early  years  of  practice,  had  an  amusing  time  but  did  little 
work  and  received  almost  no  financial  reward.  Such  was  un- 
doubtedly the  case.  Several  lawyers  of  the  period  left  statements 
as  to  their  financial  returns  during  the  first  years  in  which  they 
engaged  in  practice.  Bartholomew  Figures  Moore,  who  was  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  1823,  revealed  that  his  total  income  from 
the  profession  of  law  for  seven  years  was  only  $700.00.45  Daniel 
Gould  Fowle  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1853 ;  his  receipts  from 
the  first  year  of  his  practice  amounted  to  the  small  sum  of 
$64.00.46  It  is  a  wonder  more  young  barristers  were  not  dis- 
couraged in  the  early  years  of  the  practice  of  law  than  were! 
The  Raleigh  Register  commented: 

There  are  .  .  .  young  Lawyers  in  this  city,  who,  we  venture 
to  say,  do  not,  each,  earn  three  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 
A  mason  or  a  carpenter,  boldly  asks  twenty  shillings  a  day 
and  gets  it,  all  the  year  round — and  yet  parents  scorn  to  make 
their  sons  mechanics — but  rather  allow  them  to  starve  in  pro- 
fessions. How  injudicious!!  If  it  was  more  fashionable  to  be  a 
Carpenter  than  a  Lawyer  or  Physician  the  difficulty  would  soon 
be  overcome.  We  know  one  contract  given  to  a  carpenter  and 
Mason  for  $100,000!   This  is   really  business.47 

It  seems  strange  that  despite  the  disadvantages  which  were 
connected  with  the  legal  profession — the  long  period  of  training, 
the  bar  examination,  the  starvation  years  faced  by  every  young 
attorney,  and  the  difficulty  of  building  up  a  practice — it  was  the 
favored  profession.  The  legal  profession  carried  with  it  a  certain 
prestige  not  found  in  other  lines  of  work.  It  was  the  avenue  to 
politics.  A  person  from  one  of  the  lower  classes  of  society  could 
rise  and  be  recognized  as  a  gentleman  by  becoming  a  lawyer. 
The  advantages  outweighed  the  rather  numerous  disadvantages 
in  the  eyes  of  a  large  number  of  young  men,  and  the  legal 
profession  grew  in  size  at  a  rapid  rate  during  the  years  from 
1820  to  1860. 


44  Raleigh  Register,  May   12,   1849. 

45  Ernest  Haywood,  Some  Notes  in  Regard  to  the  Eminent  Lawyers  Whose  Portraits 
Adorn  the  Walls  of  the  Superior  Court  Room  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  Address  before 
Wake   County   Junior   Bar    Association,    June    1,    1936    (n.p.,    n.d.),    15-16. 

46  Haywood,   Some   Notes   in   Regard   to    the   Eminent   Lawyers.    .    .    ,    10. 

47  Raleigh  Register,  May   31,   1836. 


ELECTIONEERING  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA,  1800-1835 
By  John  Chalmers  Vinson 

American  history  is  so  characterized  by  change  that  this 
transmutation  is  frequently  assumed  to  be  all-inclusive.  For 
example,  it  is  sometimes  asserted  that  candidates  today  conduct 
their  campaigns  in  a  manner  far  different  from  that  employed 
in  the  early  days  of  this  country.  According  to  this  school  of 
thought,  candidates  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic  eschewed 
personal  solicitation  of  votes,  and  left  electioneering  in  the 
hands  of  their  supporters.  However,  with  the  passage  of  time, 
the  candidates  allowed  their  eagerness  to  win  public  offices  to 
corrode  this  high  moral  standard  which  once  governed  their 
conduct  in  campaigns.  While  this  picture  of  pristine  democracy 
may  be  representative  of  some,  it  is  not  applicable  to  all  candi- 
dates. The  practices  of  candidates  in  North  Carolina  for  seats 
in  the  General  Assembly  and  in  Congress  during  the  first  three 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  indicate  that  these  candidates 
not  infrequently  solicited  votes.  Furthermore,  a  technique  of 
winning  votes  was  developed  which  was  as  subtle,  persuasive, 
and  infamous  as  any  developed  since  that  time. 

The  prevalence  of  electioneering  by  the  candidate  can  be 
gauged,  roughly  at  least,  by  the  interest  in  elections.  A  closely 
contested  election  was  almost  certain  to  call  forth  every  effort 
that  a  candidate  could  command  to  assure  his  success.  By  this 
criterion  electioneering  must  have  been  frequently  employed, 
for  the  contest  for  office  was  often  bitter,  as  is  shown  clearly 
in  the  following  account: 

I  have  been  to  the  place  of  voting,  and  had  to  carry  a  dirk 
for  fear  of  getting  into  a  scrape  there ;  I  had  some  violent  angry 
disputes;  cursed  my  wife's  brother;  insulted  my  uncle;  told  my 
father  he  was  a  tory ;  dared  my  nearest  neighbor  to  fight ;  have 
not  for  months  been  on  speaking  terms  with  my  oldest  friends 
.  .  .  and  what  is  it  for?  To  elect  a  man  to  an  office  ...  I 
have  been  running  after  his  heels,  freeman  as  I  am,  and  barking 
at  his  enemies  like  a  dog,  ready  to  tear  out  my  neighbor's  eyes, 
bite  off  his  nose,  split  his  thumb,  slit  his  lip,  or  scollop  his  ear.1 

The  editor  of  the  newspaper  in  which  this  account  appeared 
declared  it  a  true  description  of  elections  from  the  smallest  to 


1  The  Star  and  North   Carolina  Gazette    (Raleigh),    November   19,    1835. 

[171] 


172  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  largest;  from  constable  to  President.  By  1835,  when  a  con- 
vention was  called  to  revise  the  constitution  of  the  state,  local 
elections  were  denounced  because  they  were  frequently  pro- 
ductive of  "heart-burnings  and  bitterness,"2  and  nurtured  "feuds, 
quarrels,  and  bloodshed."3  Occasionally,  a  Grand  Jury  would 
find  it  necessary  to  denounce  the  prevalence  of  "high  party 
spirit,"  and  adopt  resolutions  recommending  "cool  reflecting 
judgment,  unbiased  by  party  rage  or  intriguing  design."4 

Such  interest  might,  at  first  glance,  appear  to  be  inexplicable 
in  view  of  the  property  qualifications  for  officeholding  and  for 
voting.5  However,  the  percentage  of  the  population  casting  votes 
for  the  candidates  for  Representative  was  so  high  as  to  indicate 
that  few  people  were  disfranchised  by  the  necessity  of  paying 
taxes.  The  requirement  of  a  fifty-acre  freehold  appears  to  have 
reduced  the  number  voting  for  state  Senator  to  about  half  of 
those  voting  for  Representative,  but  even  so,  a  substantial 
part  of  the  populace  could  cast  this  ballot. 

Successful  candidates  had  to  command  a  large  public  follow- 
ing, and  the  early  laws  on  the  conduct  of  elections  indicate  that 
a  variety  of  means  were  employed  to  achieve  this  end.  The 
first  law  in  this  code,  passed  in  1777,  prohibited  bribery,  stuffing 
the  ballot  box,  and  multiple  voting  by  one  person.6  Another 
law,  added  to  the  code  in  1793,  made  the  use  of  "force  and 
violence  to  break  up  an  election  by  assaulting  the  officers  in  charge 
or  depriving  them  of  the  ballot  boxes"  a  misdemeanor  punishable 
by  fine  and  imprisonment.7  Further  protection  for  the  voter 
was  provided  by  a  law  passed  in  1795.  By  the  terms  of  this 
act  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds,  later  changed  to  four  hundred 
dollars,  was  assessed  anyone  convicted  of  assembling  at  a  polling 
place  a  regimental  battalion,  company  muster,  or  any  group 
of  armed  men.8  Legal  protection  from  a  more  subtle  form  of 
coercion,  "treating,"  was  afforded  the  voter  by  the  adoption 


2  Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Constitution  Convention  of  North  Carolina  Called  to 
Amend  the  Constitution  of  the  State   (Raleigh,  1835),  47,  48. 

3  William  K.  Boyd,  History  of  North  Carolina   (Chicago,  1919),  II,  144. 
*  Western  Carolinian   (Salisbury),  February  12,  1828. 

5  The  constitution  of  North  Carolina,  adopted  in  1776,  was  not  amended  in  regard  to 
provisions  for  elections  until  1835.  Candidates  for  the  House  of  Commons  were  required 
to  own  one  hundred  acres  of  land  and  candidates  for  the  state  Senate  had  to  own  three 
hundred  acres.  To  vote  for  a  Senator  a  citizen  had  to  show  title  to  a  fifty-acre  freehold. 
However,  any  freeman,  black  or  white,  who  paid  taxes  could  vote  for  the  representatives 
to  the  lower  house.  John  Haywood,  A  Manual  of  the  Laws  of  North  Carolina  (Raleigh, 
1819),    138-139.    (Hereafter   referred   to   as   Haywood,    Laws.) 

6  Haywood,  Laws,  366. 

7  Haywood,  Laws,  181. 

8  Revised  Statutes  of  North  Carolina    (Raleigh,   1836),    197-198. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835        173 

of  a  law  in  1801.  It  provided  a  fine  of  two  hundred  dollars  "if 
any  person  shall  treat,  either  with  meat  or  drink,  on  any  day 
of  election  or  any  previous  day  with  the  intention  of  influencing 
the  election.  .  .  ."  The  sheriff,  on  penalty  of  a  fine  of  forty 
dollars,  was  directed  to  publish  this  law  before  each  election.9 
The  final  addition  to  the  legal  framework  for  elections  was 
an  oath,  adopted  in  1812,  which  required  the  appointed  inspectors 
to  discharge  their  duties  with  fairness  and  honesty.10 

In  addition  to  the  restraint  imposed  by  these  laws,  the  candi- 
dates faced  another  limitation — a  popular  theory  of  republican 
government — that  the  electorate  be  independent  and  self-suffi- 
cient in  the  choice  of  public  officials.  The  candidates  should  be 
men  of  outstanding  ability  who  did  not  seek  office,  but  who 
accepted  election  as  a  call  to  public  service.  From  this  ideal 
grew  the  belief  that  candidates  for  office  should  not  influence 
the  voters  unduly  by  actively  seeking  election.  A  candidate  who 
solicited  votes  might  find  the  public  warned  against  "the  vernility 
of  insinuating,  electioneering  characters/'  who  would  seize  the 
opportunity  to  "destroy  the  pivot  on  which  .  .  .  minds  should 
turn/'11  Under  this  theory  any  active  campaign  for  office  might 
be  condemned.  In  North  Carolina,  during  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  these  principles  were  universally  professed 
by  the  candidates,  but  were  subject,  as  the  legal  provisions  just 
discussed  may  indicate,  to  widely  differing  interpretations  in 
the  heat  of  contested  elections. 

With  reference  to  this  ideal,  the  actual  practices  of  the  can- 
didates thereby  classify  them  into  one  of  three  general  categories. 
The  first  category  was  made  up  of  candidates  who  adhered  to 
the  ideal  in  its  strictest  interpretation  and  made  no  campaign 
to  gain  office.  They  averred  that  any  electioneering  was  a  viola- 
tion of  the  voter's  freedom  of  choice.  The  second  class  of  candi- 
dates campaigned,  but  only  because  they  professed  to  feel  an 
obligation  to  educate  the  public  as  to  issues  and  office  seekers. 
A  third  group  electioneered,  so  they  maintained,  in  self-defense. 
Their  purpose  was  to  protect  themselves  and  the  voters  from 
the  lies  and  slanders  spread  abroad  by  the  opposition. 


9  Revised  Statutes  of  North  Carolina,  298. 

10  Haywood,   Laws,   372. 

11  Broadsides,    S.    C,    1802.    The    broadsides    cited    herein    are    found    in    the    Manuscript 
Collection  at  the  Duke  University  Library. 


174  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Candidates  in  the  first  category,  who  refused  to  make  a 
campaign,  were  well  represented  by  William  Lenoir  who  ex- 
plained his  position  as  follows:  "I  never  asked  a  man  for  his 
Vote  yet,  and  I  think  it  such  an  imposition  on  a  freeman  to  do  it, 
that  I  hope  I  shall  never  be  Guilty  of  so  great  an  insult  on  the 
understanding  and  liberty  of  my  Countrymen."  He  pictured  the 
ideal  election  as  one  in  which  the  people  "would  be  actuated  by 
good  Sound  Principles  of  Honor  and  Justice  .  .  .  and  Vote 
impartially  for  those  they  think  most  faithful  and  capable  to 
serve  them."12  Some  years  later  this  position  was  upheld  by 
John  Stanley,  who  stated  that  he  would  take  pride  in  the  election 
only  if  it  were  the  result  of  a  free  expression  of  the  will  of  the 
people.  "Electioneering,"  he  added,  "I  shall  therefore  abstain 
from."13  An  editor,  in  1833,  indicated  the  universal  profession 
of  this  ideal  when  he  spoke  of  "that  deep  and  abiding  abhorrence 
with  which  sober  and  sensible  people  look  upon  the  shameful 
practice  of  begging  for  office.   .   .   ."14 

An  excellent  expression  of  the  ideal  of  the  second  group  of 
candidates,  who  approved  the  campaign  for  educational  purposes, 
was  printed  in  the  Greensborough  Patriot  in  1833.  According 
to  this  article,  "Electioneering  is  justifiable,  and  even  com- 
mendable where  the  candidates  travel  among  the  people  for  the 
purpose  of  enlightening  their  minds  instead  of  exciting  their 
prejudices."15  This  care  to  appeal  to  reason  rather  than  to 
emotion  was  typical  of  men  who  subscribed  to  the  ideal  of 
political  education  of  the  people.  Their  aim  was  exemplified 
by  a  candidate,  in  1810,  who  stated  that  in  his  campaign  he 
had  "abstained  from  every  remark  and  expression  which  might 
rouse  the  furious  passions  of  a  party."16 

Candidates  who  fell  into  the  third  class  campaigned  to  refute 
misrepresentations  both  actual  and  anticipated.  They  usually 
took  the  field  by  reason  of  circumstances  rather  than  as  a  matter 
of  choice.  Judge  William  B.  Gaston,  a  very  prominent  man  in 
public  life  in  early  North  Carolina  history,  told  the  people  that 
his  active  campaign  was  forced  upon  him  by  the  necessity  of 
answering  the  "electioneering  misrepresentations  which  I  learnt 


12  Fletcher    Melvin    Green,    editor,    "Electioneering    1802    Style,"    in     The    North    Carolina 
Historical  Review,  XX    (July,  1943),  244w. 

13  Broadsides,   July   24,    1822. 

14  Greensborough   Patriot,   July   19,    1833. 

15  Greensborough  Patriot,  July  19,   1833. 
10  Broadsides,  July  24,  1810. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       175 

have  been  circulated  to  injure  me.  .  .  .'ni  Charles  Fisher  of 
Salisbury,  in  1833,  regretting  that  it  was  necessary  to  intrude 
on  the  voter's  time,  told  him  that  "the  untiring  pains  that  have 
been  taken  for  years  past  to  run  me  down  in  your  good  opinion ; 
and  that  will  continue  to  be  taken  between  this  and  the  election, 
seem  to  require  that  I  should  notice  these  arts  of  malice  and  put 
you  on  your  guard  against  their  authors."18 

As  might  be  expected,  with  such  varying  interpretations  of 
the  ideal  of  a  free  and  enlightened  electorate,  there  was  much 
electioneering  in  North  Carolina  in  the  period  1800-1835.  In 
nearly  all  instances  studied,  the  ideal  of  the  voter's  freedom 
of  choice  was  affirmed  by  the  office  seeker.  It  was  maintained, 
as  will  be  seen  in  the  further  study  of  the  methods  of  candidates, 
that  the  real  purpose  of  the  campaign  was  to  broaden  rather 
than  to  abridge  the  rights  of  the  voter. 

The  electioneering  candidate  usually  made  use  of  all  of  the 
available  means  for  reaching  the  public.  In  this  day  these  in- 
cluded newspapers,  broadsides,  personal  canvasses,  and  speeches. 

The  first  of  these  channels,  the  newspaper,  was  seldom  a  major 
factor  in  local  campaigns.  Newspapers  were  few  in  number,19 
most  of  them  were  weekly,  and  frequently  they  ignored  the 
local  elections  completely.20  The  chief  reasons  for  this  reticence 
by  the  press  were,  on  one  hand,  a  journalistic  policy  which  em- 
phasized literary  works  and  national  news;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  an  instinct  for  self-preservation.  This  latter  attitude  had 
been  instilled  by  the  observation  of  the  untimely  deaths  of  those 
too  critical  of  hotheaded,  straight-shooting  aspirants  to  office.21 

Campaign  by  newspaper  was  hindered  in  still  another  respect. 
Reading  was  an  ability  which  only  a  few  Americans  had  ac- 
quired by  the  1830's.  One  candidate,  recognizing  this  problem, 


17  Broadsides,  July  24,  1810. 

18  Broadsides,  June  25,  1835. 

19  It  is  estimated  that  there  were  only  seven  newspapers  in  North  Carolina  in  1820,  and 
that  the  number  increased  to  twenty-three  by  the  early  thirties.  Willie  P.  Mangum  Papers, 
Duke  University  Manuscript  Collection.  William  K.  Boyd,  Life  of  Willie  P.  Mangum,  un- 
finished manuscript,  ch.  VI,  6.  Also  Clarence  Clifford  Norton,  The  Democratic  Party  in 
Ante-Bellum  North  Carolina,   1835-1861    (Chapel  Hill),   12. 

20  The  Carolina  Watchman  of  Salisbury  made  no  mention  of  the  local  election  of  1833 
which,  according  to  information  in  the  broadsides  distributed  by  the  candidates,  was  a 
hotly   contested   affair.   See   Broadsides,    Charles    Fisher,    June   25,    1833. 

21  The  editor  of  a  Raleigh  newspaper  was  involved  in  a  law  suit  in  1816,  because  he 
refused  to  reveal  the  name  of  a  libelous  and  anonymous  critic  who  employed  the  paper 
as  a  sounding  board  for  his  condemnation  of  a  local  politician.  Raleigh  Register  and  North 
Carolina  Gazette,  September  6,  1816.  Willie  P.  Mangum  and  William  Seawell  almost 
engaged  in  a  duel  because  of  a  circular  printed  in  the  latter's  paper,  which  cast  aspersions 
on  Mangum.  He  demanded  satisfaction  for  the  insult.  The  matter  was  settled  by  an  exchange 
of  nothing  more  dangerous  than  heated  words.  Mangum  Papers,  Mangum  to  Seawell,  1823. 


176  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

asked  the  aid  of  his  supporters  in  overcoming  it.  "I  beg  such 
of  my  friends  as  can  read  the  newspaper  to  name  [his  candidacy 
for  office]  to  their  neighbors  who  can't  read,  particularly  the 
mechanics  and  laboring  men.  .  .  ."22  However,  the  chief  factor 
in  eliminating  the  newspaper  from  the  local  political  campaigns 
appears  to  have  been  the  editorial  and  personal  policy  of  the 
owners. 

Printed  matter  was,  nevertheless,  an  important  element  in 
the  strategy  of  the  electioneer.  Instead  of  newspapers,  the  can- 
didate employed  broadsides  and  circulars  couched  in  words  of 
"learned  length  and  thundering  sound."23  These  broadsides  were 
similar  in  form  to  handbills  of  today.  They  usually  consisted 
of  a  single  sheet  about  eight  by  fifteen  inches  in  size  printed  on 
one  side.  There  was  much  variation  in  size,  with  some  as  small 
as  a  filing  card  and  others  nearer  the  dimensions  of  a  present- 
day  news  sheet.  Broadsides  were  distributed  in  several  ways. 
Occasionally,  they  were  printed  in  the  newspapers  and  con- 
stituted the  principal  method  by  which  the  candidate  employed 
the  press  in  his  campaign.  More  frequently,  however,  the  broad- 
sides were  distributed  by  hand  and  by  mail.  Congressmen  often 
used  the  franking  privilege  for  the  latter  method.24 

The  degree  to  which  candidates  made  use  of  broadsides  was 
indicated  by  a  report,  in  1804,  that  there  had  been  a  "great 
influx  of  that  species  of  pestilence,"  the  broadside.  A  candidate 
in  an  election  of  that  year  had  issued  a  thousand  circulars 
written  in  longhand.  One  observer  caustically  described  this 
effort  as  a  "specimen  of  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  people."25 
Nor  did  this  form  of  zealousness  decline  during  the  next  few 
decades.  The  Greensborough  Patriot  reported,  in  1833,  that  it 
had  printed  a  thousand  broadsides  for  a  candidate  in  a  local 
election.26 

The  content  of  the  broadside  was  subject  to  much  variation, 
depending  on  the  ideals  of  the  candidate.  If  he  believed  cam- 
paigning should  be  employed  to  educate  the  public,  the  circular 
might  be  a  formal  account  of  his  accomplishments  in  office, 
or  his  qualifications  for  the  post.  If  he  were  refuting  slanders, 


82  Carolina  Observer  and  Fayetteville  Gazette,  August,   1825. 

23  Greensborough  Patriot,   August   10,   1836. 

24  Norton,    The   Democratic   Party,  28. 

^Minerva;  or  Anti-Jacobin    (Raleigh),   August  6,   1804. 
26  Greensborough  Patriot,  May  15,  1833. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835        177 

or  spreading  them,  his  epistle  was  limited  in  form  only  by  his 
imagination  and  ability  as  a  writer.  Another  factor  which  de- 
termined the  style  of  the  broadside  was  the  proximity  of  election 
day.  The  more  formal  circulars  announcing  candidacy  were 
issued  early  in  the  year,  while  the  personal  attacks  and  refuta- 
tions came  later  in  the  campaign.  As  a  general  rule,  an  effort 
was  made  to  release  the  most  damaging  information  on  the 
day  of  election.27 

Nearly  all  candidates,  whether  they  electioneered  or  not,  issued 
circulars  announcing  that  they  were  seeking  office.  They  usually 
felt  it  necessary  to  give  in  this  notice  the  reasons  which  had 
influenced  them  in  reaching  their  decision  to  enter  the  race. 
Frequently,  the  office  seeker  gave  a  simple  explanation,  feeling 
that  no  other  justification  was  needed  beyond  the  fact  that  any 
citizen  who  could  qualify  had  the  right  to  seek  office  in  a 
democracy.28  Others  felt  that  their  candidacy  would  be  enhanced 
by  a  more  detailed  cataloguing  of  their  abilities.  In  this  purpose, 
few  could  surpass  the  candidate  who  asserted  that  he  sought 
re-election,  because  he  had  never  "heard  a  murmur  of  disappro- 
bation or  a  whisper  of  censor  uttered  against  my  [his]  public 
conduct."29 

Many  candidates  did  not  presume  to  judge  their  own  fitness, 
but  entered  the  hustings  because  they  felt  that  a  citizen  owed 
his  country  the  best  service  he  could  give.  John  Scott,  a  candidate 
in  1827,  asserted  that  he  was  seeking  office  because  he  believed 
it  "to  be  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  contribute  something  to 
the  benefit  of  his  country."30  More  eloquent  in  his  expression 
of  this  ideal  was  John  Stanley,  who  averred,  "There  are  few 
among  you  upon  whom  interest,  duty  and  feeling  call  more  loudly 
than  upon  myself,  to  abandon  public  service  and  to  remain  at 
home;  yet  .  .  .  every  man  belongs  to  his  country.  If  it  is  your 
pleasure  to  elect  me,  I  will  serve  you  in  the  Senate."31 

Other  individuals  did  not  consider  themselves  worthy  of 
office,  but  became  candidates,  so  they  asserted,  in  response  to 
an  overwhelming  demand  on  the  part  of  the  people.  Such  was 


27  Announcements  of  candidates  for  Congress  were  usually  released  early  in  the  year. 
The  33  circulars  in  the  Duke  University  collection  show  the  following  distribution:  January 
— 2;  February — 6;  March — 2;  April — 1;  May — 2;  June — 6;  July — 9;  and  August — 5.  Broadsides, 
Duke  University.  These  are  totals  for  all  years. 

28  Broadsides,  August  4,  1823. 

29  Carolina  Federal  Republican    (New  Bern),  August  1,  1812. 

80  Broadsides.   June  25,    1827. 

81  Broadsides,   July  24,   1822. 


178  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  situation  which  brought  about  the  candidacy  for  Congress 
of  W.  B.  Grove.  He  declared  that  he  had  not  sought  office,  but 
was  entering  the  contest  because  of  the  "solicitations  of  a  re- 
spectable number  of  my  fellow  citizens."32  Apparently,  the  effec- 
tiveness of  this  approach  to  the  voter  was  enhanced  if  the  candi- 
date was  in  no  way  involved  in  eliciting  the  popular  clamor. 
In  any  event,  the  candidate-to-be  was  surprised,  with  startling 
regularity,  by  a  popular  demand  that  he  serve  his  country  in 
office.  A  candidate,  in  1831,  stated,  "A  very  flattering  nomination 
having  been  made  of  my  name  without  my  privity  or  consent, 
I  have  no  option  but  to  comply  with  what  seems  to  be  the  desire 
of  a  large  portion  of  my  fellow  citizens."33 

A  variation  of  this  technique  was  an  expression  of  the  popular 
demand  for  candidacy  by  an  open  letter  printed  in  the  local 
newspaper.  With  remarkable  presence  of  mind  the  candidate 
usually  mastered  his  surprise  in  time  to  accept  the  nomination, 
sometimes,  with  a  letter  in  the  same  issue  of  the  paper.34 

Those  candidates  who  did  not  believe  in  electioneering  would, 
after  the  announcement  of  entry,  quietly  await  the  expression 
of  the  unprejudiced  opinion  of  the  public.  However,  for  those 
candidates  who  felt  a  duty  to  educate  the  public  this  announce- 
ment was  merely  the  beginning.  They  then  set  about  presenting 
their  qualifications  to  the  public  in  the  most  convincing  fashion 
that  they  could  command. 

To  these  candidates  the  approach  which  aimed  to  appeal  to 
the  common  man  was  well  known.  The  voter  was  assured  that 
the  candidate  was  a  poor  and  unpretentious  person  who  knew 
and  shared  the  problems  of  the  common  man.  James  Wellborn, 
in  an  appeal  to  the  voters  in  1802,  pointed  out  that  "he  never 
kicked  the  people,  he  was  a  Republican,  he  was  Elected  by  the 
Poor  men  and  not  by  the  rich."  His  opponent,  he  charged,  was 
by  contrast  "in  Combination  with  the  rich"  and  would  be  dan- 
gerous to  elect  since  his  "interest  was  different  from  theirs."35 

A  more  eloquent  effort  to  establish  the  same  democratic  re- 
lationship of  interest  was  offered  by  a  candidate,  in  1817,  who 
said,  "The  bread  of  labor  is  sweet.  I  have  eaten  thereof — I  am 


32  The  North  Carolina  Chronicle;  or,  Fayetteville  Gazette,  January  24  and  January  31,  1791. 
Other  examples  of  this  technique  are  found   in  Broadsides,   July  4,   1817,  and  June  30,   1824. 
38  Broadsides,  July  4,  1831. 
34  Hillsborough   Recorder,    July   25,   1834. 
85  Green,   "Electioneering  1802   Style,"  245. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       179 

acquainted  with  your  toils,  and  can  justly  appreciate  your 
worth."36  This  candidate  enlarged  the  scope  of  his  appeal  by 
modestly  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  worked  at 
mercantile,  agricultural,  mechanical,  and  professional  callings.37 
Perhaps,  such  nearly  universal  assertions  of  plainness  did  not 
arouse  the  suspicion  of  the  people.  They  did,  however,  cause 
candidates  who  were  trying  to  excel  in  the  affections  of  the 
masses,  to  become  skeptical  of  these  professions.  Such  was  the 
case  with  an  office  seeker,  in  1823,  who  declared,  "I  am,  as 
many  of  you  know,  a  plain  farmer  (I  mean  a  farmer  on  land, 
not  on  paper)  .  .  .  my  interests  in  no  respect  differ  from 
yours."38 

The  candidate,  having  identified  his  interests  with  those  of 
the  voters,  usually  continued  his  appeal  to  the  people  by  defining 
the  issues  in  the  election,  and  stating  the  policy  which  he  advo- 
cated. Most  candidates  felt  it  necessary  to  adopt  a  specific  plat- 
form. If  they  failed  to  do  so,  the  opposition  would  supply  the 
deficiency  by  imputing  to  them  a  program  false  to  the  candidate's 
real  ideals.39  Even  though  the  candidate  did  not  believe  in  elec- 
tioneering, he  might  distribute  a  broadside  in  which  he  com- 
mented on  the  issues  in  a  learned  and  dispassionate  manner. 
Generally,  such  a  circular  would  be  devoted  completely  to  the 
survey  of  public  policy,  and  only  a  sentence  or  two  would  be 
devoted  to  soliciting  votes.40 

The  more  active  campaigners  did  not  regard  a  platform  merely 
as  a  process  of  education  or  protection;  they  recognized  that 
it  could  be  a  valuable  device  for  winning  votes.  To  serve  this 
practical  purpose  the  candidate  found  it  expedient  to  fashion 
a  platform  which  overlooked  the  vital  issues  difficult  to  treat, 
while  vigorously  belaboring  fictitious  menaces,  which  could  be 
expelled  easily.  Although  this  technique  was  widely  used,  it 
was  not  universally  condoned.  One  irate  citizen  denounced  these 
candidates  who  got  a  theme  and  rode  it  "as  a  hobby"  into  the 
seats  of  power  as  "besotted  demagogues,"  who  walked  over  the 
people's  "prostrate  liberties  into  the  halls  of  legislation."  In 
"riding  a  hobby"  one  candidate  would  promise  the  building  of  a 


38  Broadsides,  July  4,  1817. 

87  Broadsides,  July  4,   1817. 

88  Broadsides,  July   8,    1823. 
88  Broadsides,  July   4,    1817. 

40  Broadsides,  April    15,    1822;    June    25,    1827;    January,    1829;    February,    1829;    June    24, 

1829;   February  16,   1831. 


180  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

railroad  as  an  internal  improvement,  while  another  would  oppose 
the  project  in  order  to  save  taxes.  The  fact  that  he  was  not  a 
lawyer  by  profession  supplied  a  suitable  "hobby"  for  one  office 
seeker;  at  the  same  time  another  commended  himself  to  the 
public  because  he  was  one.  These  and  many  other  "hobbies" 
the  observer  branded  as  devices  designed  to  distract  and  confuse 
rather  than  to  educate  and  enlighten  the  public.  The  epitome 
of  this  issue-evading  approach  was  the  campaign  technique  of 
G.  T.  Moore.  This  would-be  solon  conveniently  overlooked  the 
local  issues  in  his  campaign  speech,  the  burden  of  which  was, 
"Huzza  for  Jackson,  and  damn  the  Tariff."41 

A  variation  of  the  technique  of  circumventing  the  local  issues, 
blameless  in  itself,  was  the  flag-waving  praise  of  democracy, 
frequently  emphasized  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  issues.  John 
Giles,  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  1823,  devoted  so  much  of  his 
circular  to  enthusiastic  praise  of  democracy  that  no  space  was 
left  for  any  other  matter.  "Where,"  began  this  oration,  "was 
caught  the  holy  flame  which  warms  and  animates  the  oppressed 
Greek?  From  America,  were  wafted  on  the  wings  of  heaven, 
those  sacred  truths  contained  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence."42 Praise  of  the  free  elections  of  the  Republic  furnished 
another  candidate  a  similar  theme.  "The  time,  Fellow  Citizens, 
is  now  at  hand,  when  as  men  breathing  the  air  and  treading 
the  soil  of  liberty,  with  none  to  molest  or  make  you  afraid  you 
must  again  go  forth  to  the  polls.  .  .  ."43  The  editor  of  the 
Greensborough  Patriot  condemned  this  interminable  "shouting 
of  liberty,"  which  he  scorned  as  being  nothing  more  than  a  fig 
leaf  to  hide  the  candidate's  naked  failure  to  provide  a  positive 
program  for  the  public  good.44  This  same  paper  condemned  in 
a  verse,  more  distinguished  in  feeling  than  in  technical  perfec- 
tion, the  whole  "hobby"  technique  of  electioneering. 

Our  candidates,  some  hobby  ride, 
Like  the  boy  his  cow  astride, 
Some  dogma  use  to  gain  affection, 
If  they  can  find  the  favorite  toast, 
They  use  anything  almost, 
To  gain  their  election.45 


41  Greensborough  Patriot,  August  29,   1832. 

42  Broadsides,   no   date,    1823. 

An  Greensborough  Patriot,  August  29,    1832. 

44  Greensborough  Patriot,  July  25,   1832. 

45  Greensborough  Patriot,   August  11,   1830. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       181 

Some  candidates  made  no  promise  to  the  voter  beyond  the 
assurance  that  they  would  use  their  own  judgment  in  promoting 
the  general  welfare.  They  felt  that  it  was  the  representative's 
duty  to  be  independent  and  to  remain  free  of  his  constituents' 
influence  on  specific  issues.  William  Lenoir  let  the  voters  know 
that  he  would  "make  no  promis  [sic]  to  serve  them  if  Elected 
but  would  do  what  I  [he]  thought  was  right."46  Jesse  Slocumb, 
in  1819,  was  no  less  independent  when  his  only  promise  to  the 
public  was  to  do  "what  shall  appear  to  me  the  best  interest  of 
our  country."47 

These  statements  were  diametrically  opposed  to  another  theory 
common  at  the  time — the  instruction  of  candidates.  According 
to  this  idea,  the  voter  should  decide  all  matters  of  policy,  and 
the  office  seeker  should  make  known  his  will.48 

In  any  event,  the  character  of  the  candidate  and  the  confidence 
that  he  could  inspire  were  doubtless  of  more  importance  than 
any  specific  platform  he  might  adopt.  Personal  popularity  and 
integrity  were  vital  factors  in  the  campaign.  The  editor  of  the 
Hillsborough  Recorder,  speaking  of  an  election  in  1823,  observed 
that  "the  comparative  merit  of  the  two  gentlemen  .  .  .  was 
the  pivot  on  which  the  contest  turned."49 

With  the  emphasis  thus  focused  on  the  character  of  the  can- 
didate, it  was  natural  that  the  politician  of  the  day  often  sought 
to  raise  himself  in  the  voter's  estimation  by  degrading  his  op- 
ponent. This  tendency  was  deplored  by  a  candidate  who  reported, 
"Scarcely  had  my  name  been  announced  when  the  ever  ready 
tongue  of  slander  began  its  worthy  work."50  This  experience 
was  evidently  typical,  for  an  editor  of  the  time  stated,  "A  seat 
in  the  legislature  can  not  be  obtained  without  wading  belly-deep 
in  falsehood,  slander  and  vituperation."51 

Specific  cases  show  that  a  wide  variety  of  improprieties  were 
alleged  in  these  attacks.  A  candidate,  in  1812,  was  accused  of 
disloyalty  to  the  federal  government.52  A  congressman,  seeking 
re-election  in  1816,  had  to  deny  the  charge  that  he  advocated 


48  Green,    "Electioneering    1802    Style,"    244. 

47  Broadsides,  June  10,  1819. 

48  Broadsides,  July  4,  1831.  An  interesting  contemporary  discussion  of  this  question  of 
the  relation  between  the  representatives  and  the  people  is  found  in  John  Augustine  Smith, 
Syllabus  of  the  Lectures  Delivered  to  the  Senior  Students  in  the  College  of  William  and, 
Mary,  on  Government    (Philadelphia,  1817),  32-47. 

49  Hillsborough  Recorder,  September  10,  1823. 

50  Greensborough  Patriot,  July  25,  1832. 

51  Greensborough  Patriot,   August  29,  1832. 

52  Carolina  Federal  Republican,  August  29,  1812. 


182  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

a  raise  in  pay  for  representatives.53  A  statesman  who  had 
succeeded  in  gaining  re-election  on  several  occasions  was  branded 
a  professional  politician,  whose  only  motive  was  self-advance- 
ment, while  candidates  just  entering  politics  were  scorned  be- 
cause of  their  lack  of  experience.54  In  another  instance,  the 
voters  were  warned  of  the  general  incompetence  of  a  candidate 
who  was  "too  stupid  to  write  and  too  cowardly  to  fight."55 

An  exchange,  typical  of  the  charge  and  countercharge  which 
this  method  evoked,  took  place  in  1834  between  David  Worth 
and  an  unnamed  opponent  who  operated  a  grog  shop.  Worth 
stated  that  his  opponent's  place  of  business  had  "aptly  been 
compared  to  hell  itself."  The  dispenser  of  drinks  replied  by 
saying  that  Worth  was  the  shop's  most  faithful  customer  and 
sought  there  the  "fluid  with  which  he  kept  his  body  constantly 
electrified."  Worth  contradicted  this  charge  and  asserted  that 
no  respectable  white  man  would  patronize  an  establishment 
which  catered  to  the  lowest  class  of  Negroes.56 

In  some  instances,  even  an  apparently  flawless  character  did 
not  afford  the  candidate  immunity  from  criticism  by  his  oppo- 
sition. For  example,  a  candidate,  in  1830,  stated,  "It  is  perfectly 
out  of  all  character  for  a  man  who  has  no  other  claims  upon 
your  confidence  than  those  of  honesty,  promptness  and  fidelity, 
to  remain  in  office  forever."57 

Perhaps,  the  most  damaging  misinformation  that  a  candidate 
could  spread  was  the  rumor  that  his  opponent  had  withdrawn 
from  the  race.  The  newspapers  frequently  ran  circulars  in  which 
candidates  frantically  protested  that  they  did  choose  to  run 
and  were  still  in  the  race.58  For  maximum  effectiveness,  this, 
and  other  especially  damaging  accusations,  were  generally  re- 
served until  shortly  before  the  election.  The  voter  might  doubt 
the  truth  of  the  indictment,  but  would  not  have  time  to  verify 
his  opinion  before  casting  his  ballot.  The  candidates,  well  aware 
of  this  situation,  made  every  effort  to  turn  it  to  their  own  ad- 
vantage.59 The  air  of  election  day  was  often  filled  with  incrim- 
ination and  recrimination.  Falsehood,  base  calumnies,  sneaking 


53  Raleigh  Register  and  North   Carolina  Gazette,   July   25,   1816. 
64  Broadsides,    August   3,    1833. 

55  Carolina  Federal  Republican,   July   17,    1813. 

56  Broadsides,    August    13,    1834. 

67  Greensborough  Patriot,  July  28,  1830. 

58  Carolina  Observer  and  Fayetteville  Gazette,  August  5,   1824. 

59  Norton,    The  Democratic   Party,  29. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       183 

insinuations,  and  vulgar  abuse  "either  privately  circulated  in 
whispers  or  thrown  out  with  dashing  effrontery  at  the  moment 
of  election"  were  a  part  of  the  usual  election  scene.60  Apparently, 
this  situation  continued  to  exist  throughout  the  entire  period, 
for  an  observer,  in  1812,  declared  that  this  deplorable  state  of 
affairs,  as  just  described,  had  so  long  been  in  use  as  to  be 
commonplace.  As  late  as  1830  a  candidate  complained  of  the 
same  sort  of  last-minute  attack.  "I  do  not  say  that  he  intended 
by  this  late  maneuvre,  to  take  any  advantage ;  but  I  must  confess 
I  cannot  see  any  other  object  he  can  have."61  Anticipation  was 
the  only  defense  against  such  eleventh-hour  attacks,  and  often 
both  sides  came  to  the  election  well  supplied  with  countercharges 
and  refutations  designed  to  meet  any  eventuality. 

The  practice  of  dealing  in  personalities  was  thoroughly  re- 
prehensible to  many  public-spirited  citizens  who  subjected  it  to 
vigorous  attack.  One  critic  ran  a  satirical  advertisement  which 
stated,  "Our  machinery  can  be  turned  to  the  manufacture  of 
falsehoods,  suited  to  the  peculiar  situation,  prospects  and  neces- 
sities of  each  candidate.  Any  who  wish  a  supply  wholesale  or 
retail  apply  to  No.  6950-Tattle  Row  Greensborough."62 

Objections  to  dealing  in  personalities  did  not  eradicate  the 
evil,  and  candidates  met  the  situation  by  devising  special  tech- 
niques in  addition  to  the  usual  denials.  One  of  those  was  the 
distribution  of  circulars  containing  short,  signed  statements  by 
witnesses  who  vouched  for  the  integrity  of  the  candidate,  and 
upheld  his  innocence  of  specific  charges  made  against  him. 
Henry  Tillman,  a  candidate  in  1812,  was  defended  by  four 
witnesses  who  denied  the  accuracy  of  derogatory  reports  about 
his  political  ideals.63  D.  G.  Rae,  accused  of  beating  a  boathand 
with  an  oar,  had  five  witnesses  to  testify,  "We  have  never  known 
him  to  strike  with  a  stick,  switch,  or  other  weapon,  any  white 
man  in  his  employ  at  any  time."64  Evidently,  integrity  rather 
than  literacy  was  the  prime  requisite  of  the  compurgators  for, 
in  some  instances,  they  signed  with  an  X.e5 


60  Carolina  Federal  Republican,  August  29,  1812. 

61  Greensborough  Patriot,  August  11,   1830. 

62  Greensborough  Patriot,  July  25,  1832. 

63  Carolina   Federal   Republican,   August   22,    1812. 

64  Broadsides,   July  23,    1836. 

65  Broadsides,  August  3,  1840.  No  candidate  was  able  to  gather  for  his  testimonial  the 
distinguished  array  of  witnesses  claimed  by  Beckwith's  Anti-Dyspeptic  Pills  for  the  "cure 
of  almost  every  variety  of  functional  disorder.  .  .  ."  This  panacea  was  recommended 
by  three  preachers,  a  bishop,  a  governor,  a  state  treasurer,  and  even  a  professor.  Raleigh 
Star  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  November  19,  1835. 


184  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Important  as  printed  matter  was  in  the  conduct  of  a  campaign, 
it  is  probable  that  the  office  seeker's  chief  reliance  was  in  direct 
meetings  with  the  people.  The  candidate  in  this  personal  contact 
with  the  voter  fostered  his  cause  chiefly  by  the  use  of  "flowery 
speeches  and  free  liquor."66  Such  accounts  of  speeches  as  are 
available  show  that  the  candidates  usually  made  the  same  type 
of  appeal  to  the  voter  which  is  revealed  in  the  broadsides.  There 
was  widespread  agreement  as  to  the  effectiveness  of  political 
oratory  or  speaking  "on  the  fence,"  as  it  was  then  called.67 
Thomas  Clingman  urged  Willie  P.  Mangum  to  leave  the  United 
States  Senate  long  enough  to  aid  in  a  local  campaign,  declaring, 
"Half  a  dozen  speeches  at  dinners  would  get  a  majority."68 
Mangum,  himself,  attributed  his  narrow  victory  in  the  Con- 
gressional race  of  1825  to  a  rainstorm  which  prevented  his 
eloquent  opponent  from  delivering  the  last  speech  of  the 
campaign.69  The  zeal  with  which  some  candidates  employed  this 
method  was  illustrated  by  Josiah  Crudup,  a  minister  who,  ac- 
cording to  his  opponent,  electioneered  from  the  stump  six  days 
a  week  and  from  the  pulpit  on  the  seventh  day,  winning  more 
votes  in  his  Sunday  sermon  than  in  the  rest  of  the  week  com- 
bined.70 Occasionally,  the  lay  candidates  took  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  for  electioneering  which  the  gathering  of  a  Sunday 
congregation  afforded,  and  mixed  the  things  of  Caesar  with 
those  of  God.  D.  L.  Barringer,  on  one  occasion,  made  such  un- 
restrained statements,  at  the  Spring  at  Hepzibah  meeting  house, 
that  his  opponent  challenged  him  to  a  duel.71  As  a  general  thing, 
the  speaking  campaign  was  carried  on  not  only  at  church,  but 
also  at  musters,  court  days,  and  on  any  other  occasions  where 
a  crowd  might  be  gathered.72 

Speechmaking  became  a  campaign  issue  in  some  cases.  Some 
candidates  made  it  a  point  to  refrain  from  oratory,  asserting 
that  as  plain  honest  farmers  they  were  unaccustomed  to  public 
speaking.  Others,  however,  built  their  whole  campaigns  around 
speaking  tours  on  which  they  delivered  memorized  orations 
which  they  "let  off  like  hail  on  sheepskin."73 


66  Greensborough  Patriot,  August  11,  1830. 

67  "On   the   fence"   was   the   equivalent   of   the   present-day   term    "stump    speaking."    Green 
"Electioneering    1802    Style,"    243«. 

68  Mangum    Papers,    Boyd,    Life   of   Mangum,    unfinished    manuscript,    Ch.    V,    17. 

69  Boyd,  Life  of  Mangum,   Ch.   IV,   8. 

70  Boyd,   Life  of  Mangum,   Ch.  IV,   8. 

71  Boyd,   Life  of  Mangum,   Ch.  IV,   4. 

72  Broadsides,   June  25,   1838. 

™  Greenaborough  Patriot,  August  29,   1832. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       185 

The  importance  of  stump  speaking  as  a  campaigning  method 
was  attested  by  the  various  techniques  which  were  developed  to 
prevent  its  effective  use  by  the  opposition.  One  candidate,  for 
example,  complained  that  his  opponents  would  ride  as  far  as 
twenty  miles  to  break  up  meetings  at  which  he  spoke.  Various 
methods  were  developed,  he  reported,  to  accomplish  this  end. 
In  one  instance,  as  the  speaker  rose  to  his  feet  to  begin  his 
address,  riders  galloped  up  to  the  crowd  and  offered  to  bet  five 
hundred  dollars  against  his  chances  for  election.  Apparently, 
this  tactic  sorely  tried  the  faith  of  some  of  the  candidate's 
followers,  and,  consequently,  had  a  disastrous  effect  on  the  morale 
of  the  meeting.74  In  another  instance,  a  more  subtle,  and  probably 
more  effective,  method  was  employed.  Here,  the  rival  partizans 
offered  free  whiskey  to  all  who  would  come  over  to  a  barrel, 
set  up  just  outside  the  range  of  the  persuasive  voice  of  the 
speaker.  The  orator  took  up  the  challenge  and  told  his  listeners 
to  choose  liquor  or  eloquence  as  their  inclinations  dictated.75 
Unfortunately,  no  record  exists  as  to  the  number  selecting  each 
alternative. 

Another  technique  used  by  the  candidate  to  contact  the  public 
directly  was  a  canvass  of  individual  voters.  The  thoroughness 
with  which  this  method  was  employed  by  one  office  seeker  was 
indicated  by  the  editorial  observation:  "We  understand  that  he 
will  not  'Electioneer'  as  he  wishes  to  raise  another  crop  before 
he  dies  and  does  not  wish  to  ride  his  horse  to  death."76  Another 
critic  complained  that  the  office  seekers  would  not  let  the  voters 
rest,  and  intruded  "upon  their  time  and  patience  with  such  a 
disgusting  slang,  as  should  make  a  dog  howl  in  derision!"77 
Few  escaped  these  visitations,  for  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a 
candidate  to  "scour  every  section  of  the  country  in  search  of 
votes."78 

While  the  voters  themselves  might  decry  the  importance  of 
the  canvass,  the  candidates  professed  to  feel  that  it  was  a 
public  service.  G.  Munford,  seeking  office  in  1816,  stated  that 
he  sought  only  to  educate  the  public.  He  intended  to  "go  through 
the  district  as  much  as  I  can,  and  .  .  .  make  candid  disclosures 


7±  Broadsides,  July  30,  1833. 

75  Broadsides,   July   30,   1833. 

76  Greensborough   Patriot,   July   24,    1833. 

77  Greensborough   Patriot,   July    19,    1834. 

78  Raleigh  Register  and  North   Carolina  Gazette,  August  30,    1816. 


186  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

of  my  sentiments  on  all  civil  questions,  civilly  addressed."79  This 
canvass  of  voters  was  probably  a  more  rewarding  method  of 
campaigning  than  the  broadside,  for,  from  time  to  time,  circulars 
were  published  in  the  newspapers,  explaining  that  the  candidate 
was  advertising  his  candidacy  in  print  only  because  he  would 
be  unable  to  see  all  of  the  voters  personally.80  He  sometimes 
included  in  his  broadside  the  explanation  that  he  was  doing  his 
best  to  see  each  voter  and  to  visit  each  muster  ground;  any 
failure  to  contact  a  voter  would  be  the  result  of  a  lack  of  time 
rather  than  a  lack  of  interest.81 

The  use  of  free  liquor  was  a  mainstay  of  electioneering 
throughout  the  period,  despite  the  existence  of  a  law  forbidding 
the  exchange  of  "treats"  for  votes.82  One  candidate  in  the  cam- 
paign of  1816  distributed  liquor  with  such  a  free  hand  that  it 
was  reported  he  had  "drenched  every  muster  ground  with 
inspiring  whiskey."83  However,  not  every  office  seeker  could 
afford  the  liquor  necessary  to  float  a  whole  campaign.  Conse- 
quently, a  more  frequent  and  reliable  use  of  this  facility  was 
to  reserve  it  until  the  election  day.  John  Stanley,  a  candidate 
in  1822,  condemned  and  described  this  practice  in  the  following 
words:  "Who  in  his  calm  moments,  can  look  without  grief  and 
shame,  upon  the  picture  of  an  election  scene,  in  which  the 
Candidate  with  his  jug,  and  the  voter  with  his  glass,  perhaps 
reeling  together,  belch  forth  their  patriotism  and  fidelity?"84 
Another  candidate,  who  also  viewed  this  situation  with  despair, 
declared  that  people  would  sell  their  votes,  but  he  hoped  that 
in  time  they  would  progress  to  a  point  where  they  would  demand 
a  higher  price  for  their  franchise  than  a  drink  of  grog.85 

Treating  to  gain  votes  became  such  a  prevalent  abuse  that 
additional  steps  were  taken  to  curb  it.  Despairing  of  succeeding 
in  prohibiting  the  disposal  of  whiskey  in  exchange  for  votes, 
the  law-makers  of  1823  adopted  what  seemed  a  more  practical 
approach.  The  period  of  election,  formerly  three  days,  was 
reduced  to  one.  The  longer  period  had  been  instituted  in  order 
to  give  all  citizens  an  opportunity  to  get  to  the  polls.  However, 


79  Broadsides,  1816. 

80  Raleigh  Standard,  May  5,   1836. 

81  Broadsides,   February  17,   1821;   January   8,   1831;   July   4,   1817. 

82  Haywood,  Laws,  366,  Law  passed  in   1801. 

83  Raleigh  Register  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  August  30,  1816. 

84  Broadsides,  July  24,  1822. 

85  Broadsides,  July  24,  1822. 


Electioneering  in  North  Carolina,  1800-1835       187 

experience  showed  that  the  extended  period  did  not  serve  its 
purpose,  and  was  merely  an  incitement  to  dissipation,  intem- 
perance, and  violence,  with  the  result  that  "time  and  health 
were  both  squandered."86 

Even  this  step  did  little  to  solve  the  problem,  for  seven 
years  later  a  poet  measured  the  effectiveness  of  electioneering 
in  the  following  terms: 

For  who  can  stoop,  and  treat  the  most 

Is  very  sure  to  rule  the  rest, 

And  worst  of  all,  the  last  dram, 

Turns  the  vote  of  a  man, 

Whose  vote  was  sold  before  we  guess.87 

Election  day  in  a  closely  contested  race  was  likely  to  be  the 
scene  of  a  desperate  effort  to  win  the  deciding  votes.  Whisper 
campaigns,  slanderous  circulars,  and  free  liquor,  were  only  a 
few  of  the  factors  which  frequently  made  an  election  "a  wild 
affair."  Voters  might  be  bribed,  dragged  up  to  vote,  threatened 
with  law  suits,  and  menaced  with  bodily  violence.  Prominent 
local  citizens,  not  infrequently,  spent  the  whole  day  on  horseback 
electioneering  among  the  free  Negroes,  and  buying  votes.88 

Such  elections  must  have  been  fairly  common.  One  reason 
given  for  the  abolition  of  the  borough  representation  in  1835 
was  the  general  disruption  brought  on  by  the  annual  election. 
One  of  the  delegates  to  the  convention  declared  that,  in  addition 
to  feuds  and  bloodshed,  "mechanics  and  others  are  excited  by 
the  parties  interested  in  such  elections,  business  is  neglected, 
and  the  morals  of  the  people  corrupted."89 

In  conclusion,  it  appears  that  the  candidates  for  state  office 
in  early  nineteenth-century  North  Carolina  adopted  an  ethical 
ideal  of  electioneering  in  which  they  recognized  the  desirability 
of  freedom  of  choice  on  the  part  of  the  voter.  However,  it 
has  been  shown  that  in  practice  the  candidates  at  times  violated 
this  standard. 

When  the  complaint  is  made  today  that  our  politicians  are 
corrupt,  callous  of  public  good,  and  self-seeking,  some  comfort 
may  be  taken  in  the  realization  that  this  species  of  American 


86  Raleigh  Register  and  North  Carolina  Gazette,  August  15,  1823. 

87  Greensborough  Patriot,  August  11,  1830. 

88  Carolina  Watchman,   September  1,   1832. 

89  Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Convention  of  North  Carolina,  35,  36. 


188  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

is  not  of  recent  origin.  Candidates  for  public  office  were  described 
as  far  back  as  1804  as  being  "bold,  impudent,  and  unprincipled 
demagogues."90  Perhaps,  there  is  some  hope  in  the  fact  that 
it  has  been  one  hundred  and  forty  years  since  Judge  William 
Gaston  opined  that  the  candidates  of  his  day  were  motivated 
by  the  selfish  interest  of  "what  will  most  contribute  to  the 
strength  of  our  party,"  rather  than  by  the  true  ideal  of  republi- 
can government  of  "what  will  best  advance  the  interest  of  the 
country."91 


w.Minerva,  September  10,  1804. 
01  Broadsides,  July  24,  1810. 


JIM  POLK  GOES  TO  CHAPEL  HILL 
By  Charles  Grier  Sellers,  Jr. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  two  Presidents  born  in  North 
Carolina  and  a  third,  whom  the  Old  North  State  has  always 
vigorously,  if  a  bit  dubiously,  claimed,  all  arrived  at  the  White 
House  through  careers  in  Tennessee.  But  at  least  one  of  the 
three,  James  K.  Polk,  had  enough  of  North  Carolina  in  his 
background  to  qualify  as  both  "Tar  Heel  born"  and  "Tar  Heel 
bred." 

Sam  Polk's  oldest  son  was  just  eleven  in  the  fall  of  1806, 
when  the  family  pulled  up  its  roots  in  Mecklenburg  County 
and  made  the  trek  across  the  mountains  to  settle  on  a  farm  in 
Maury  County,  Tennessee.  A  sickly  lad,  Jimmy  did  not  take 
happily  to  the  chores  of  the  farm  or  to  the  arduous  trips  through 
the  Tennessee  wilderness  with  his  surveyor  father,  when  the 
boy  was  expected  to  take  care  of  the  pack  horses  and  camp 
equipage  and  to  prepare  the  meals.1  He  was  continually  bothered 
by  grinding  abdominal  pains,  which  were  eventually  diagnosed 
as  evidence  of  gallstone.  When  Jim  was  seventeen,  Sam  Polk 
took  him  230  miles  on  horseback  to  Danville,  Kentucky,  for 
an  operation  by  Doctor  Ephraim  McDowell,  the  pioneer  surgeon 
in  the  West.  Anesthesia  and  antisepsis  were  still  unknown,  but 
the  operation  was  successful  and  brought  about  a  miraculous 
transformation  in  the  boy.  Polk  later  acknowledged  that  but 
for  McDowell  he  would  never  have  amounted  to  much.2 

As  his  vitality  returned,  however,  Jim  Polk  showed  no  en- 
thusiasm for  farm  work  or  the  rough  outdoor  life  of  a  surveyor, 
and  his  father,  finally  despairing  of  his  son's  following  in  his 
own  footsteps,  placed  him  with  a  merchant  to  learn  the  business. 
But  Jim's  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  grand  and  alluring  career  of 
a  professional  man,  and  after  a  few  weeks  in  the  store,  his 
father  yielded  to  his  entreaties  that  he  be  allowed  to  go  to 
school.3 


1  John  S.  Jenkins,  The  Life  of  James  K.  Polk,  Late  President  of  the  United  States  (Auburn, 
N.  Y.,  1850),  37-38. 

2  Samuel  D.  Gross,  Lives  of  Eminent  American  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  (Philadelphia,  1861),  210-211,  221,  223,  229;  Mary  Young  Ridenbaugh,  The  Biog- 
raphy of  Ephraim  McDowell,  M.  D.,  "The  Father  of  Ovariotomy"  (New  York,  1890),  76-78; 
Archibald  H.  Barkley.  Kentucky's  Pioneer  Lithotomists    (Cincinnati,   1913),   38. 

3  [J.  L.  Martin,]  "James  K.  Polk,"  United  States  Magazine  and  Democratic  Review,  II 
(1838),  199-200. 

[189] 


190  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Polk  had  a  good  mind,  but  the  training  he  had  received 
was  so  meagre  that  at  the  age  of  eighteen  he  spelled  badly  and 
wrote  in  the  worst  style.4  In  July,  1813,  he  enrolled  in  the  school 
at  Zion  Church,  about  three  miles  south  of  Columbia,  the  seat 
of  Maury  County.  The  school  was  taught  by  the  Reverend 
Robert  Henderson,  one  of  the  first  Presbyterian  preachers  in 
that  part  of  the  country  and  a  forthright  and  effective  orator. 
Henderson  had  once  won  the  respect  of  Andrew  Jackson  by 
preaching  a  sermon  against  cock-fighting  to  the  general  and  a 
number  of  other  prominent  men  who  had  gathered  for  a  weekend 
of  the  sport.  This  was  young  Polk's  first  introduction  to  fash- 
ionable classical  education;  he  commenced  Latin  grammar  and 
for  about  a  year  "read  the  usual  course  of  Latin  Authors,  part 
of  the  greek  [sic]  testament  and  a  few  of  the  dialogues  of 
Lucian."5  The  whole  experience  was  tonic  in  its  effect.  He  was 
older  than  most  of  the  scholars  and  worked  indefatigably,  mak- 
ing up  for  lost  time.  The  teacher  was  not  allowed  to  whip  stu- 
dents, but  once  a  week  "Uncle  Sam"  Frierson,  the  patriarch  of 
the  community,  came  to  the  school,  took  wrongdoers  down  to  the 
spring, 

talked  over  their  sins  with  them,  and  when  necessary  vigorously 
applied  a  birch  from  a  nearby  thicket.  If  such  actions  did  not 
prove  corrective  "Uncle  Sam"  would  proceed  to  pray  over  the 
misdoer  long  and  loudly — something  much  more  to  be  dreaded 
than  three  hard  whippings.6 

It  is  unlikely  that  Jim  Polk  ever  required  such  treatment. 

Sam  Polk  was  so  impressed  with  his  son's  accomplishments 
that  he  agreed  at  the  beginning  of  1815  to  send  him  to  a  more 
distinguished  academy,  conducted  by  another  Presbyterian, 
Samuel  P.  Black,  at  the  newly  established  town  of  Murfrees- 
borough,  some  fifty  miles  to  the  northeast.  When  Polk  presented 
himself  at  the  log  building  which  housed  the  school,  he  was 
still  small  for  his  age.  "His  hair  was  much  fairer  and  of  lighter 
growth  than  it  afterwards  became.  He  had  fine  eyes,    [and] 


4  Gross,  Eminent  American  Physicians,  221. 

5  Certificate  of  Henderson,  quoted  in  Eugene  Irving  McCormac,  James  K.  Polk:  A  Political 
Biography  (Berkeley,  1922),  3.  See  also  Mary  Wagner  Highsaw,  "A  History  of  Zion  Com- 
munity in  Maury  County,  1806-1860,"  Tennessee  Historical  Quarterly,  V  (1946),  113;  A.  V. 
Goodpasture,  "The  Boyhood  of  President  Polk,"  Tennessee  Historical  Magazine,  VII  (1921), 
47;  S.  G.  Heiskell,  Andrew  Jackson  and  Early  Tennessee  History  (Nashville,  1920-1921),  III, 
681-683. 

6  Quoted  in  Highsaw,  "Zion  Community,"  113. 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  191 

was  neat  in  appearance."7  He  boarded  with  a  family  in  town 
and  worked  hard  at 

English  Grammar  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  Arithmetic, 
the  most  useful  branches  of  the  Mathematics,  Geography, 
Natural  and  Moral  Philosophy,  Astronomy,  Belles-letters  [sic], 
Logic,  and  such  other  useful  and  ornamental  branches  of  Litera- 
ture.8 

The  school  term  was  closed  in  October  with  an  "exhibition,"  at 
which  the  students  delivered  orations  and  acted  in  portions 
of  plays.  Polk  showed  "the  finest  capacity  for  public  speaking," 
— he  had  probably  learned  more  than  Latin  grammar  from 
Parson  Henderson — and  a  spectator  remarked  that  he  was  "much 
the  most  promising  young  man  in  the  school."9 

Such  was  young  Polk's  progress  at  Murfreesboro  that  in  less 
than  a  year  he  felt  ready  to  enter  college.  It  was  only  natural 
that  he  should  choose  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  where 
his  cousin,  Colonel  William  Polk,  was  one  of  the  most  active 
trustees.  Arriving  at  Chapel  Hill  in  the  fall  of  1815,  he  was 
examined  by  the  faculty  on  Latin  and  Greek  grammar,  Caesar's 
Commentaries,  Sallust,  Virgil,  Mair's  Introduction,  ten  chapters 
of  Saint  John's  Gospel  in  Greek,  and  Murray's  English  Grammar. 
On  the  basis  of  this  examination,  he  was  given  credit  for  all 
the  freshman  and  half  the  sophomore  work  and  was  admitted 
to  the  sophomore  class  when  the  second  term  opened  in  January, 
1816. 10  This  is  striking  evidence  of  his  intelligence  and  of  the 
assiduity  with  which  he  had  pursued  his  studies  in  the  two  and 
a  half  years  since  he  had  commenced  them  under  Parson 
Henderson. 

The  University  of  North  Carolina  was  the  same  age  as  Polk 
himself.  Its  early  years  had  been  neither  prosperous  nor  dis- 
tinguished, and  in  1815  it  had  a  faculty  of  only  five.  The  Reverend 
Robert  Chapman  was  president,  but  the  real  leader  of  the  insti- 
tution was  the  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Doctor  Joseph  Cald- 


7  Samuel  H.  Laughlin,  "Sketches  of  Notable  Men,"  Tennessee  Historical  Magazine,  IV 
(1918),  77-78.  See  also  Thomas  B.  Wilson,  "Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,"  Tennessee 
Historical  Quarterly,  V  (1946),  93-94;  C.  C.  Henderson,  The  Story  of  Murfreesboro  (Mur- 
freesboro, Tenn.,  1929),  27-29;  Nashville  Whig,  Oct.  25,  1814. 

8  Certificate  of  Samuel  P.  Black,  Stanley  F.  Horn,  ed.,  "Holdings  of  the  Tennessee  Histori- 
cal Society:  Young  James  K.  Polk's  Credentials,"  Tennessee  Historical  Quarterly,  IV  (1945), 
339 

9  Laughlin,  "Sketches  of  Notable  Men,"  77-78. 

10  The  Laws  of  the  University  of  North-Carolina.  As  Revised  in  1813  (Hillsborough,  N.  C, 
1822),  5.    (Hereafter  referred  to  as  U.  N.  C.  Laws.) 


192  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

well,  who  was,  like  Chapman,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman.  In 
addition  there  was  a  senior  tutor,  William  Hooper,  later  to  be 
Professor  of  Languages,  and  two  other  tutors,  recently  graduated 
students,  who  lived  in  the  dormitories,  tried  to  keep  order,  and 
taught  the  lower  classes.  There  were  eighty  students  at  the 
beginning  of  1816,  the  number  rising  to  ninety-one  by  the  end 
of  the  year.11 

However  poor  in  some  respects,  the  University  had  a  mag- 
nificent situation,  lying  on  a  great  ridge  rising  out  of  piedmont 
North  Carolina,  some  thirty  miles  west-northwest  of  the  capital 
at  Raleigh.  The  whole  countryside  was  heavily  forested,  cool, 
clear  springs  ran  from  the  slopes  around  the  sides  of  the  emi- 
nence, and  from  Point  Prospect,  a  promontory  at  its  eastern 
end,  one  could  look  off  for  miles  toward  the  coastal  plain.  The 
University  buildings  were  set  upon  the  highest  point  of  the 
broad  and  gently  rolling  plain  which  was  the  top  of  the  ridge. 
Old  East,  a  two-story  dormitory  with  sixteen  rooms,  had  been 
constructed  in  1795.  At  right  angles  to  it  was  the  recently  com- 
pleted Main  Building  (now  South  Building) ,  a  more  pretentious 
structure  with  three  floors  and  a  cupola  and  containing  class- 
rooms, library,  society  rooms,  and  dormitory  rooms.  Stretching 
northward  from  the  Main  Building  was  the  "Grand  Avenue," 
a  wide  park  of  oaks  and  hickories  with  natural  undergrowth. 
At  the  far  end,  some  three  hundred  yards  away,  ran  the  main 
street  of  the  straggling  village  of  Chapel  Hill,  and  hidden  in 
the  woods  beyond  was  the  small  frame  building  which  housed 
the  University's  preparatory  school.  Directly  across  the  Grand 
Avenue  from  Old  East  stood  the  small,  plain  chapel,  and  in  the 
opposite  direction  was  the  large,  frame  Steward's  Hall,  where 
many  of  the  students  ate  their  meals.  Beyond  the  Steward's 
Hall  and  toward  the  east,  another  broad,  cleared  avenue  ran 
along  the  Raleigh  road  to  Point  Prospect,  affording  a  vista  over 
the  plain  beyond.  The  tiny  village  itself  had  only  thirteen  houses, 
two  stores,  and  a  tavern.12 


11  Treasurer's  Accounts,  November  20,  1816,  University  of  North  Carolina  Papers  (Southern 
Historical  Collection,  University  of  North  Carolina),  hereafter  referred  to  as  U.  N.  C.  Papers; 
University  of  North  Carolina,  Minutes  of  the  Trustess,  1811-1822,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina 
Collection,  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina),   153,   159. 

12  Archibald  Henderson,  The  Campus  of  the  First  State  University  (Chapel  Hill,  1949),  15, 
25n,  42-43,  45,  60,  65;  William  D.  Moseley  to  Professor  Elisha  Mitchell,  August  15.  1853,  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  Letters,  1796-1835,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina). 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  193 

From  its  earliest  years  the  infant  university  had  been  under 
strong  Presbyterian  influences  and  had  tried  to  model  itself 
upon  Princeton.  It  was  ordained  that  a  student  who  denied  the 
being  of  God  or  the  divine  authority  of  the  Christian  religion 
should  be  dismissed,  and  the  entire  student  body  was  examined 
periodically  on  the  Bible.13  The  bell  on  top  of  the  Main  Building 
was  rung  at  six  in  the  morning,  and  fifteen  minutes  later  another 
bell  summoned  to  morning  prayers  in  the  Chapel ;  prayers  were 
held  again  at  five  in  the  afternoon,  and  on  Sunday  students 
were  required  to  attend  public  worship  clad  in  "neat  black 
gowns."  The  bell  was  rung  again  at  eight  at  night  in  the  winter 
and  nine  in  the  summer,  after  which  students  were  supposed 
to  repair  to  their  rooms  for  study.  The  year  was  divided  into 
two  terms,  with  vacations  between,  one  of  a  month  during 
December,  and  the  other  of  six  weeks  in  the  summer.  Each 
term  was  concluded  by  a  public  examination,  the  one  in  Novem- 
ber by  the  faculty  and  the  one  at  commencement  in  June  by 
a  committee  of  the  trustees.  In  addition  to  their  regular  studies, 
the  students  were  required  to  give  orations  following  evening 
prayers,  two  or  more  each  evening  as  their  names  came  up 
alphabetically,  and  seniors  were  required  to  deliver  two  original 
orations  during  the  year,  one  of  them  at  commencement.14  Tuition 
was  $10  and  later  $15  a  term,  and  room  rent  was  $1.15 

Polk's  health  was  still  feeble,  but  he  threw  himself  with  his 
usual  energy  into  the  sophomore  studies16 — Cicero's  Select  Ora- 
tions, Xenophon's  Cyropoedia,  Homer,  geography,  arithmetic, 
and  Murray's  Grammar.  The  classics  were  less  important  after 
July,  when  he  entered  upon  the  junior  course — elements  of 
geometry,  algebra,  trigonometry,  logarithms,  mensuration,  select 
parts  of  the  classics,  and  the  inevitable  Murray's  Grammar.17 
The  extensive  training  in  mathematics  was  given  by  Doctor 
Caldwell,  while  William  Hooper,  "tall  and  erect,  polished  in 
manners,  gentle  in  disposition,  and  a  ripe  scholar,"  a  rigid 
disciplinarian,18  was  responsible  for  the  classical  work.  Caldwell 


13  U.  N.  C.  Laws,  10;  University  of  North  Carolina,  Reports  from  the  Faculty  to  the 
Trustees,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina), 
December  6,   1816. 

14  V.  N.  C.  Laws,  4,  7-8,  10,  17-18;  U.  N.  C.  Trustee  Minutes,  131-132. 

15  U.  N.  C.  Laws,  16;  U.  N.  C.  Trustee  Minutes,  154. 

16  John  Y.  Mason,  Address  before  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, Delivered  in  Gerard  Hall,  June  2,  1847.  The  Evening  Preceding  Commencement  Day 
(Washington,  1847),  7. 

»  U.  N.  C.  Laws,  5. 

18  Edward  J.  Mallett,  Address  to  the  Graduating  Class  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina, 
at  Commencement,  June  2d,  1881   (Raleigh,  1881),  3. 


194  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

had  composed  his  own  geometry  text,  which  was  then  copied  in 
manuscript  by  the  students.  The  copies  were,  of  course,  filled 
with  errors. 

But  this  was  a  decided  advantage  to  the  junior,  who  stuck  to 
his  text,  without  minding  his  diagram.  For,  if  he  happened  to 
say  the  angle  at  A  was  equal  to  the  angle  at  B,  when,  in  fact 
the  diagram  showed  no  angle  at  B  at  all,  but  one  at  C,  if  Dr. 
Caldwell  corrected  him,  he  had  it  always  in  his  power  to  say: 
"Well,  that  was  what  I  thought  myself,  but  it  ain't  so  in  the 
book,  and  I  thought  you  knew  better  than  I."  We  may  well 
suppose  that  the  Dr.  was  completely  silenced  by  this  unexpected 
argumentum  ad  hominem.  You  see  how  good  a  training  our 
youthful  junior  was  under,  by  a  faithful  adherence  to  his  text, 
to  become  a  "strict  constructionist"  of  the  constitution,  when 
he  should  ripen  into  a  politician.19 

At  the  semiannual  examination  in  November  it  was  found  that 
"James  K.  Polk  and  William  Moseley  are  the  best  scholars"  in 
the  class,  and  the  entire  class  was  highly  approved.20 

The  course  of  study  in  the  final  year  was  natural  and  moral 
philosophy,  chronology,  select  parts  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
classics,  and,  again,  Murray's  Grammar.21  At  the  midyear  ex- 
amination this  time,  the  faculty  was  able  to  pronounce 

only  a  general  sentence  of  approbation.  Distinctions  might  be 
made  in  scholarship,  but  it  would  be  difficult  [to  know]  at  what 
point  to  stop.  They  are  all  approved.  And  this  class  is  especially 
approved  on  account  of  the  regular  moral,  and  exemplary  de- 
portment of  its  members  as  students  of  the  university.22 

The  faculty  was  strengthened  in  the  second  half  of  Polk's 
senior  year  by  the  addition  of  Elisha  Mitchell,  fresh  from  Yale, 
as  professor  of  mathematics.  Polk  was  "passionately  fond"  of 
this  subject,  and  under  Professor  Mitchell  his  was  the  first 
class  at  the  University  to  study  such  advanced  geometry  as  conic 
sections.  The  class  was  unfortunate  in  just  missing  the  teaching 
of  Denison  Olmstead,  another  Yale  man,  who  had  been  hired 
along  with  Mitchell  to  teach  chemistry  but  who  stayed  at  New 
Haven  for  an  additional  year  of  advanced  study  under  Benjamin 
Silliman  before  coming  to  Chapel  Hill.23 


19  William  Hooper,  Fifty  Years  Since:  An  Address,  Delivered  before  the  Alumni  of  the 
University  of  North-Carolina,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1859.  (Being  the  Day  before  the  Annual 
Commencement)    (Raleigh,  1859),  23. 

20  U.  N.  C.  Faculty  Reports,  December  5,  1816. 

21  U.  N.  C.  Laws,  5-6. 

22  U.  N.  C.  Faculty  Reports,  January  4,  1818. 

28  U.  N.  C.  Trustee  Minutes,  145;  W.  D.  Moseley  to  Professor  Elisha  Mitchell,  August  15, 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  195 

As  in  most  colleges  at  that  time,  much  of  the  important  train- 
ing was  received  outside  the  classroom,  through  the  "literary 
societies."  At  Chapel  Hill  most  of  the  students  were  members 
of  either  the  Dialectic  or  the  Philanthropic  Society,  between 
which  there  was  the  keenest  rivalry.  Polk  became  a  member  of 
the  former  during  his  first  term.24  The  societies  met  weekly  in 
their  own  halls  in  the  Main  Building,  with  a  topic  arranged  for 
debate  at  each  meeting.  Each  member  was  required  to  participate 
in  the  debates  every  other  week  and  to  present  compositions  at 
the  alternate  meetings.  The  best  compositions  were  filed  in  the 
society  archives,  eight  of  Polk's  being  so  honored,  two  of  which 
are  still  extant. 

The  first  of  these,  written  in  1817,  an  argument  against  "The 
Admission  of  Foreigners  into  Office  in  the  United  States,"  was 
filled  with  the  spread-eagle  patriotism  characteristic  of  the 
expanding  America  which  emerged  from  the  War  of  1812.  Polk 
feared  that  foreigners  would  be  imbued  with  aristocratic  or 
monarchical  ideas,  or  that  they  would  try  to  establish  a  state 
church.  Nor  did  he  show  much  faith  in  the  ability  of  the  people 
to  make  correct  decisions.  So  soon  as  foreign  influence  insinuates 
itself  into  the  favor  of  a  credulous  populace,  he  said,  "party 
is  established  and  faction  is  founded,  yes,  faction,  that  destroyer 
[of]  social  happiness  and  good  order  in  society,  that  monster 
that  has  sunk  nations  in  the  vortex  of  destruction."25  Twenty 
years  later  Polk  would  have  thought  such  a  sentiment  clear 
evidence  that  its  author  was  either  an  aristocrat  or  a  Bank 
hireling,  but  in  1817  government  was  entrusted  by  almost  com- 
mon consent  to  Republican  elder  statesmen,  and  parties  were 
often  considered  not  only  unnecessary  but  highly  dangerous. 

The  second  composition,  an  effusion  of  schoolboy  enthusiasm 
"On  the  Powers  of  Invention,"  reflects  all  the  winds  of  thought 
which  blew  upon  students  at  Chapel  Hill  in  the  early  nineteenth 
century.  Based  on  John  Locke's  analysis  of  human  psychology, 
it  showed  that  Doctor  Caldwell's  lectures  on  "moral  philosophy" 


1853,  U.  N.  C.  Letters. 

24  University  of  North  Carolina,  Dialectic  Society,  Minute  Book,  1812-1818,  MS.  vol.  (North 
Carolina  Collection,  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina),  January  25,  1816. 

25  Composition  of  James  K.  Polk,  University  of  North  Carolina,  Dialectic  Society,  Addresses 
of  the  Dialectic  Society,  First  Series,  MS,  Vol.  IV,  P  to  Y  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina).  There  is  a  "List  of  Compositions  and  Addresses  now 
in  the  Archives  of  the  Dialectic  Society"  in  University  of  North  Carolina,  Dialectic  Society, 
Temporary  Laws,  Etc.,  1818,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina),  which  lists  eight  Polk  compositions,  only  two  of  which  seem  to  have 
survived. 


196  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

had  left  a  strong  impress  of  the  Age  of  Reason  on  his  hearers. 
Polk's  theme  was  a  profound  faith  in  the  powers  of  human 
reason  and  an  ecstatic  view  of  man's  progress,  through  reason, 
from  ignorance  and  superstition  to  where  "he  sits  enthroned  on 
the  pinnacles  of  fame's  proud  temple."  But  by  1817  reason  had 
its  limits,  and  the  youthful  writer  regrets  that  the  noble  works 
of  invention  have  been  "basely  used  by  a  Paine  a  Hume  and  a 
Bolinbroke  [sic'}  as  the  harbinger  of  infidelity."  The  influence 
of  romantic  thought  was  also  beginning  to  be  felt,  and  the 
romantic  hero  appears :  "St.  Helena  blooms  with  nature's  richest 
production  wafted  to  her  shore  by  the  winds  of  adversity  and 
though  fallen  yet  noble,  debased  yet  acting  with  philosophical 
composure."  Romanticism  is  even  more  evident  in  the  full-blown 
style  and  bombastic  exaggeration,  characteristics  which  are  in 
striking  contrast  with  everything  else  Polk  is  known  to  have 
said  or  written.  The  composition  closes  with  an  apostrophe  to 
America,  which  is  forging  ahead  of  Europe  "under  the  happy 
auspices  of  an  equilibrium  in  government."26 

The  Dialectic  Society  was  strict  in  enforcing  its  rules,  attend- 
ance was  required,  and  Polk  was  a  half  dozen  times  among  those 
fined  for  absence.  He  was  also  penalized  a  number  of  times 
for  "irregularity"  and  once  for  "gross  irregularity."  Whether 
these  fines  were  levied  for  keeping  library  books  out  too  long, 
spitting  tobacco  juice  on  the  floor,  or  for  some  other  impropriety 
has  not  been  determined,  but  they  do  dissipate  the  myth  of 
Polk,  the  superhumanly  correct  student,  who  never  failed  in 
the  punctual  performance  of  every  duty.  The  debates  at  Society 
meetings  were  often  hotly  contested,  and  one  evening  a  member 
was  fined  ten  cents  for  using  threatening  language  to  James  K. 
Polk,  and  Polk  was  fined  a  like  sum  for  replying. 

Many  of  the  debates  were  on  questions  with  which  Polk  had 
to  deal  in  his  later  public  career.  The  record  for  the  evening 
of  his  admission  to  the  Society  unfortunately  does  not  show 
whether  Polk  voted  or  argued  on  the  side  of  the  negative  ma- 
jority on  the  question,  "Would  an  extension  of  territory  be  an 
advantage  to  the  U.  S.?"  The  decision  was  again  negative  on, 
"Would  it  be  justifiable  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  for  the  United 
States  to  assist  Spanish  America  in   deffence    [sic]    of  their 

26  Ten-page  MS.  in  Polk's  hand,  Dialectic  Addresses. 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  197 

liberty?"  On  still  another  occasion,  after  "warm  and  animated 
debate,"  it  was  decided  that  the  practice  of  law  is  congenial  to 
the  pure  precepts  of  Christianity.  Polk's  later  views  triumphed 
in  the  debate  over,  "Ought  a  representative  to  exercise  his  own 
judgment  or  act  according  to  the  directions  of  his  constituents  ?" 
when  the  decision  was  in  favor  of  the  latter.  These  aspiring 
politicians  also  decided  that  the  life  of  a  statesman  was  prefer- 
able to  that  of  a  warrior.  But  not  all  the  questions  were  so 
serious,  as  witness,  "Is  an  occasional  resort  to  female  company 
beneficial  to  students?"  the  outcome  of  which  may  well  be 
imagined.27 

Each  of  the  two  societies  had  a  library  superior  to  the  Uni- 
versity's meagre  stock  of  books.  To  the  Dialectic  collection  of 
1,623  volumes,  Polk  contributed  a  set  of  "Gibbon's  Rome," 
"Williams'  France,"  "Darwin's  Memoirs,"  "Addison's  Evi- 
dences," and  John  H.  Eaton's  recent  biography  of  Jackson.  The 
interest  in  history  indicated  here  is  shown  also  by  the  frag- 
mentary record  of  books  taken  from  the  University  library, 
which  indicates  that  Polk  borrowed  Gibbon's  Rome  and  one  of 
David  Ramsay's  works  on  the  American  Revolution.28  Among 
its  innumerable  activities,  the  Di  also  included  philanthropy; 
the  members  taxed  themselves  two  dollars  per  term  for  a  loan 
for  the  education  of  one  of  their  fellows  who  seems  to  have  had 
no  other  means  of  support.29 

Polk  was  an  active  leader  in  the  society.  He  served  two 
monthly  terms  as  treasurer  and  held  other  offices,  principally 
secretary  and  chairman  of  the  executive  committee.30  At  the 
end  of  his  junior  year  he  was  elected  president  of  the  society, 
and  the  following  spring  was  chosen  for  a  second  term,  a 
mark  of  respect  without  precedent.31  This  mark  of  confidence 


27  Dialectic  Minutes,  January  25,  1816-May  20,  1818,  passim;  University  of  North  Carolina, 
Dialectic  Society,  Committee  Minutes,  1816-1824,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina),  February  24,  1817. 

28  Catalogue  of  Books  Belonging  to  the  Dialectic  Society,  Chapel-Hill,  February,  1821 
(Hillsborough,  N.  C,  1821),  4;  Dialectic  Minutes,  October  16,  1816;  University  of  North 
Carolina,  "Library  Books  Borrowed,  August  26,  1817-March  25,  1819,"  MS.  bound  with  Uni- 
versity Demerit  Roll,  October  26,  1838-September  18,  1840,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Col- 
lection, Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina). 

29  University  of  North  Carolina,  Dialectic  Society,  Treasurer's  Individual  Accounts,  1811- 
1818,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Collection,  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina), 
207-208. 

30  University  of  North  Carolina,  Dialectic  Society,  Treasurer's  Book,  1807-1818,  MS.  vol. 
(North  Carolina  Collection,  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina),  August,  1816,  and 
March,  1817,  for  Polk's  accounts  as  treasurer;  his  individual  accounts  with  the  Society  are  in 
Dialectic  Individual  Accounts,  1811-1818,  221,  260,  307,  and  University  of  North  Carolina, 
Dialectic  Society,  Treasurer's  Individual  Accounts,  1818-1821,  MS.  vol.  (North  Carolina  Col- 
lection, Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina),  29;  Dialectic  Committee  Minutes, 
August,  1816-March,  1818,  passim. 

81  Dialectic  Minutes,  May  8,  1817,  and  April  29,  1818. 


198  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

may  have  been  the  result  of  Polk's  efforts  to  preserve  the  honor 
of  the  society  by  pushing  the  impeachment  of  a  member  accused 
of  stealing  some  tongs  and  a  shovel  from  another  member, 
letting  himself  "be  publickly  kicked  in  one  of  the  passages  of 
the  main  building  .  .  .  without  making  any  honorable  resist- 
ance," charging  $25  worth  of  books  to  the  Society  and  then 
presenting  them  to  the  Society  as  his  own  gift,  leaving  Chapel 
Hill  without  paying  his  debts,  claiming  to  have  a  large  estate 
with  the  intention  "of  imposing  himself  upon  some  too  credulous 
one  of  the  female  sex,"  and  permitting  himself  to  be  called  a 
liar  without  doing  anything  "to  vindicate  his  character."  Polk 
industriously  collected  evidence  against  the  villain,  who  was 
expelled  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Society.32 

Polk's  second  inaugural  address,  on  "Eloquence,"  shows  that 
he  already  had  an  eye  to  politics.  You  may,  he  told  his  listeners, 

be  called  upon  to  succeed  those  who  now  stand  up  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  people,  to  wield  by  the  thunder  of  your  eloquence 
the  council  of  a  great  nation  and  to  retain  by  your  prudent 
measures  that  liberty  for  which  our  fathers  bled.  It  may  be  a 
delusive  phantom  that  plays  before  my  imagination,  but  my 
reason  tells  me  it  is  not.  For  why  may  we  not  expect  talents  in 
this  seminary  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  youths  which  it 
fosters,  and  with  the  advantages  which  have  been  named  may  we 
not  expect  something  more  than  ordinary.  But  even  if  it  were 
visionary  I  would  delight  to  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the 
pleasing  hope.  .  .  .  Although  our  body  resembles  what  Rhe- 
toricians would  term  a  miscellaneous  assembly  your  proficiency 
in  extemporaneous  debating  will  furnish  you  with  that  fluency 
of  language,  that  connexion  of  ideas  and  boldness  of  delivery 
that  will  be  equally  serviceable  in  the  council,  in  the  pulpit  and 
at  the  bar. 

That  his  own  technique  was  already  well  developed  is  indicated 
by  his  further  remarks: 

I  cannot  but  remark  two  very  fatal  and  opposite  faults  that 
prevail  in  the  exercises  in  debating  that  are  exhibited  in  this 
body.  The  one  is  looseness  of  preperation  [sic]  before  assembling 
in  this  Hall.  The  other  is  writing  and  memorizing  your  exhibi- 
tions in  which  there  is  often  too  much  attention  paid  to  the 
elegance  of  language  and  too  little  to  the  ideas  conveyed  by  it. 
The  former  so  far  from  making  you  fluent  and  bold,  will  only 

32  Hardy  L.  Holmes  to  James  K.  Polk,  November  12,  1817,  "James  H.  Simeson's  Impeach- 
ment &  Expulsion,  January  21st  1818,"  Dialectic  Society  Papers  (Southern  Historical  Col- 
lection, University  of  North  Carolina). 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  199 

tend  to  corrupt  language  and  embarrass  your  address.  The  latter 
will  make  you  timorous  and  unprepared  to  engage  in  an  un- 
foreseen discussion.  A  due  degree  of  attention  should  be  given 
to  the  subject  under  consideration.  The  several  heads  upon 
[which]  you  mean  to  touch  should  be  distinctly  arranged  in 
the  memory,  but  the  language  in  which  your  ideas  are  expressed 
should  not  be  elaborate,  but  that  which  is  suggested  at  the 
moment  of  delivery  when  the  mind  is  entirely  engrossed  by  the 
subject  which  it  is  considering.  The  attention  of  your  hearers 
will  not  then  be  diverted  from  the  merits  of  the  question  by  the 
studied  metaphors  and  flowers  of  language.33 

Such  a  concept  of  forensic  technique  was  not  very  common  in 
the  nineteenth  century  and  indicates  a  bold  and  original  mind. 
Polk's  assiduity  in  applying  and  developing  it  in  the  debates  of 
the  Society  and  later  were  to  make  him  a  formidable  foe  on 
the  stump  in  Tennessee  and  in  the  give  and  take  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  It  would  have  been  hard  to  improve  on  the 
Dialectic  Society  as  a  school  for  statesmanship. 

Many  of  Polk's  fellow  students  did  indeed  rise  to  eminence. 
William  D.  Moseley,  with  whom  he  roomed  on  the  third  floor 
of  Main  Building,  later  became  governor  of  Florida.  In  after 
years  he  recalled  to  Polk  the  "many  tedious  and  laborious  hours" 
they  had  spent  together,  "attempting  to  discover  the  beauties 
of  Cicero  and  Homer  and  the  less  interesting  amusements  of 
quadratic  equations  and  conic  sections."34  John  Y.  Mason,  who 
later  became  a  United  States  Senator  from  Virginia  and  a 
member  of  Polk's  cabinet,  graduated  during  Polk's  first  year 
at  Chapel  Hill,  while  John  M.  Morehead,  subsequently  governor 
of  North  Carolina,  was  in  the  class  ahead  of  Polk.  In  his  own 
class  of  fourteen  there  were,  besides  himself  and  Moseley,  a 
future  Bishop  of  Mississippi,  William  Mercer  Green,  the  first 
president  of  Davidson  College,  Robert  Hall  Morrison,  and  a 
president  of  the  North  Carolina  senate,  Hugh  Waddell.  William 
H.  Haywood,  to  be  a  United  States  Senator  from  North  Carolina, 
was  among  the  younger  boys  at  Chapel  Hill  in  Polk's  time.35 

Life  at  "the  Hill"  was  not  all  serious,  however.  Much  of  the 
time  was  spent  in  sports,  excursions  through  the  surrounding 


33  MS.  in  Dialectic  Addresses. 

34  William  D.  Moseley  to  James  K.  Polk,  November  29,  1832,  James  K.  Polk  Papers  (Di- 
vision of  Manuscripts,  Library  of  Congress);  William  D.  Moseley  to  Professor  Elisha  Mitchell, 
August  15,  1853,  U.  N.  C.  Letters. 

35  "Catalogue  of  Students  (copied  by  Wm.  D.  Moseley),"  U.  N.  C.  Letters;  Catalogus 
Universitatis  Carolinae  Septentrionalis  (Raleigh,  1817),  14-16;  Kemp  Plummer  Battle,  History 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina   (Raleigh,  1907,  1912),  I,  258-259. 


200  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

forests,  or  deviltry.  Playing  ball  against  the  walls  of  the  buildings 
got  to  be  such  a  nuisance  that  it  had  to  be  prohibited  by  the 
trustees.36  Swimming  in  nearby  ponds  was  a  favorite  in  the  sum- 
mer. Bandy,  or  shinny,  the  most  popular  game,  was  rough  and 
dangerous.  Hygiene  and  sport  were  combined  at  the  "Twin 
Sisters/'  two  small  brooks  on  the  north  slope  of  the  campus, 
whose  waters  had  been  channelled  so  as  to  provide  a  natural 
shower  bath.  More  exciting  were  midnight  marauding  and  such 
standard  college  pranks  as  tying  a  cow  to  the  bell  or  building 
rude  fences  across  the  village  streets.  President  Caldwell  was  in 
the  habit  of  making  midnight  excursions  of  his  own  and  was  so 
fleet  of  foot  and  adept  in  the  apprehension  of  wrong-doers  that  he 
was  dubbed  "Diabolus,"  usually  shortened  to  "Bolus."  Youthful 
energy  occasionally  got  completely  out  of  hand,  as  in  1817  when 
the  trustees  were  so  infuriated  by  "the  late  outrages  on  the  build- 
ings of  the  University  &  grove,"  that  they  ordered  the  faculty 
to  prosecute  the  offenders  in  the  courts.37 

It  is  doubtful  whether  Polk's  health  permitted  him  to  engage 
in  the  more  strenuous  diversions,  but  he  got  abundant  exercise 
in  the  walk  of  a  mile  or  more  down  a  long,  steep  hill  to  the  farm- 
house in  the  valley  north  of  the  village  where  he  took  his  meals 
during  a  part  of  his  stay.38  There  were  also  vacation  excursions 
with  Moseley  and  others  to  Raleigh,  where  the  boys  stayed  at  the 
home  of  Colonel  William  Polk,  and  probably,  also,  visits  to  the 
homes  of  classmates  during  the  longer  summer  recesses.39 

The  most  stirring  event  which  occurred  during  Polk's  residence 
at  Chapel  Hill  was  the  rebellion  of  1816.  College  life  in  those  days 
exhibited  a  perpetual  warfare  between  the  students  and  their 
preceptors.  Even  the  punctilious  Polk  had  advised  his  fellows 
to  "stoop  not  from  the  true  principles  of  honor  to  gain  the  favour 
of  the  Faculty  and  thus  succeed  in  your  views  of  promotion."40 
President  Chapman  had  been  an  opponent  of  the  War  of  1812, 
and  the  University  had  long  been  suspected  in  the  state  of  being 


38  Resolution  of  the  Trustees,  December  6,  1817,  U.  N.  C.  Papers. 

87  Resolution  of  the  Trustees  [December,  1817,]  U.  N.  C.  Papers.  See  also  Henderson, 
Campus,  57,  110;  Hooper,  Fifty  Years  Since,  25-31;  W.  D.  Moseley  to  Prof.  E.  Mitchell,  August 
15,  1853,  U.  N.  C.  Letters.  Caldwell  had  again  become  president  of  the  University  in  1816. 

38  William  Hillyard  to  John  Haywood  and  others,  December  6,  1816,  U.  N.  C.  Papers;  John 
D.  Hawkins  to  John  Y.  Mason,  April  17,  1847,  photostatic  copy  (North  Carolina  Collection, 
Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina). 

39  William  Hillyard  to  John  Haywood  and  others,  December  6,  1816,  U.  N.  C.  Papers; 
John  D.  Hawkins  to  John  Y.  Mason,  April  17,  1847,  photostatic  copy  (North  Carolina 
Collection,   Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina). 

40  James  K.  Polk,  "Eloquence,"  MS.  in  Dialectic  Addresses. 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  201 

under  Federalist  domination.  One  evening  in  September,  1816, 
after  prayers,  the  customary  oration  was  given  by  William  B. 
Shepard.  He  had  submitted  his  address,  as  was  the  rule,  to  Chap- 
man, who  had  made  certain  changes.  But  in  delivering  it,  he 
defied  the  president  and  gave  it  as  originally  written.  When 
ordered  to  sit  down,  he  persisted,  to  the  enthusiastic  applause  of 
the  assembled  student  body.  Afterwards  there  was  "great  noise 
and  riot"  in  the  dormitories  for  most  of  the  night,  and  the  next 
morning  twenty-seven  students,  mostly  members  of  the  Philan- 
thropic Society,  answered  a  call  for  a  meeting  in  the  Chapel  to 
support  Shepard. 

The  harassed  faculty  retaliated  at  once.  Shepard  and  two  of 
his  principal  encouragers  were  suspended  forthwith.  Those  pres- 
ent at  the  student  meeting  who  would  sign  a  recantation,  among 
them  William  Moseley,  were  forgiven,  but  the  rest  were  likewise 
suspended.  Meanwhile  the  incident  was  becoming  a  state-wide 
political  issue.  The  Republican  papers  denounced  the  tyranny  of 
the  faculty,  while  the  Federalist  organ  printed  Doctor  Chap- 
man^ claim  that  he  had  ordered  Shepard  to  delete  only  passages 
smacking  of  infidelity — though  the  bitter  criticisms  of  Great 
Britain  in  the  offensive  passages  were  doubtless  primarily  re- 
sponsible for  arousing  the  president's  choler.  The  Phi  Society, 
reduced  to  thirteen  members  by  the  suspensions,  bitterly  accused 
the  Di  men  of  promising  to  attend  the  student  meeting  then  fail- 
ing to  appear,  a  charge  which  was  hotly  denied. 

The  students  were  outwardly  cowed  by  the  disciplinary  meas- 
ures, but  the  explosion  of  a  bomb,  made  of  a  brass  doorknob,  in 
front  of  the  room  of  one  of  the  tutors  showed  the  depth  of  their 
resentment.  And  they  eventually  triumphed.  The  trustees,  sensi- 
tive to  public  opinion,  forced  President  Chapman  to  resign  a  few 
months  later  and  replaced  him  with  Doctor  Caldwell.  In  the  in- 
terest of  discipline,  though,  they  were  finally  forced  to  expel 
Shepard  and  the  chief  promoter  of  the  student  meeting.  Six 
months  later,  with  enrollment  down  to  sixty,  the  University  was 
still  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  incident.41 


a  Battle,  U.  N.  C,  I,  231,  235-239;  John  Patterson  to  Thomas  T.  Armstrong,  September  24, 
1816,  typed  copy,  and  William  M.  Green  to  Martin  W.  B.  Armstrong,  October  17,  1816, 
typed  copy,  bound  with  U.  N.  C.  Faculty  Reports;  Minerva  (Raleigh),  October  18,  1816; 
Raleigh  Register  and  North-Carolina  Gazette,  October  4,  1816;  Thomas  B.  Slade  to  Alfred  M. 
Slade,  October  9,  1816,  U.  N.  C.  Papers;  William  Hooper  to  Walter  Alves,  March  6,  1817, 
copy,  J.  C.  Norwood  Papers  (Southern  Historical  Collection,  University  of  North  Carolina); 
U.  N.  C.  Trustee  Minutes,  122,  133,  136. 


202  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

On  the  last  Wednesday  in  May,  1818,  a  committee  of  the 
trustees  arrived  in  Chapel  Hill  to  spend  a  week  examining  the 
students  preparatory  to  commencement.42  This  annual  event  was 
one  of  the  state's  outstanding  social  occasions,  and  its  high  point 
for  the  students  was  the  ball  held  in  the  dining  room  of  the 
Steward's  Hall.  A  member  of  the  Class  of  1818  later  recalled : 

At  commencement  ball  (when  I  graduated)  my  coat  was  broad- 
cloth of  sea  green  color,  high  velvet  collar  to  match,  swallow  tail, 
pockets  outside,  with  lapels  and  large  silver  plated  buttons ;  white 
damask  vest,  snowing  the  edge  of  a  blue  undervest ;  a  wide  open- 
ing for  bosom  ruffles,  and  no  shirt  collar.  The  neck  was  dressed 
with  a  layer  of  four  or  five  cornered  cravats,  artistically  laid  and 
surmounted  with  a  cambric  stock,  pleated  and  buckled  behind. 
My  pantaloons  were  white  Canton  crape,  lined  with  pink  muslin, 
and  showed  a  peach  blossom  tint.  They  were  rather  short,  in  order 
to  display  flesh  colored  silk  stockings ;  and  this  exposure  was  in- 
creased by  very  low  cut  pumps,  with  shiny  buckles.  My  hair  was 
very  black,  very  long  and  queued.  I  would  be  taken  for  a  lunatic 
or  a  harlequin  in  such  costume  now.43 

On  the  last  day  of  the  festivities,  each  senior  delivered  an 
oration  in  the  chapel,  and  Polk,  graduating  with  the  "First 
Honor,"  gave  the  Latin  Salutatory  before  a  large  company  of  the 
first  men  of  the  state.44  Commencement  was  a  proud  occasion  for 
Polk,  but  also  part  of  it  was  the  sadness  of  taking  leave  of  good 
friends  and  pleasant  associations;  mementos  were  exchanged, 
Polk  presenting  his  friend  Moseley  with  a  breast-pin  which  the 
latter  cherished  for  years.45 

Polk's  precarious  health  had  again  been  impaired  by  the  pres- 
sure of  studies  and  activities  as  his  senior  year  drew  to  a  close, 
so  he  did  not  return  immediately  to  Tennessee,  but  spent  a  few 
months  resting  and  visiting  friends  in  North  Carolina.  He  was 
doubtless  in  Chapel  Hill  for  the  wedding  of  one  of  his  classmates 
two  weeks  after  commencement  and  was  back  again  in  August, 
when  he  drew  some  books  from  the  University  library.  Finally, 
in  the  fall,  he  turned  homeward.46 

It  was  only  five  years  since  Jim  Polk  had  entered  Parson  Hen- 


42  Raleigh  Register  and  North-Carolina  Gazette,  May  1,  1818. 

43  Memoirs  of  Edward  J.  Mallett,  a  Birthday  Gift  for  Each  of  His  Children.  May  1st,  1880 
(n.  p.,  n.  d.),  38-39. 

44  Battle,   U.  N.  C,  I,  258. 

^William  D.  Moseley  to  James  K.  Polk,  December  1,  1830,  Polk  Papers. 
46  Raleigh  Register  and  North-Carolina  Gazette,   June   19,    1818;    "U.   N.   C.   Library   Books 
Borrowed,"  entries   for  August   15,   22,   1818;   Goodpasture,   "Boyhood  of  Polk,"   48-49. 


Jim  Polk  Goes  to  Chapel  Hill  203 

derson's  little  academy  at  Zion  Church,  and  the  young  man  had 
good  reason  to  take  pride  in  the  industry  and  intelligence  which 
in  so  short  a  time  had  brought  the  uncouth  country  boy  to  the 
head  of  the  University's  graduating  class.  These  were  the  five 
years  that  had  made  the  man,  and  of  the  five  the  latter  ones, 
spent  at  Chapel  Hill,  had  been  by  far  the  most  important. 


THE  HATTERAS  EXPEDITION,  AUGUST,  1861 
By  James  M.  Merrill 

It  was  late  at  night.  Bursting  with  excitement,  Postmaster 
General  Montgomery  Blair,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Gus- 
tavus  Fox,  and  Major-General  Benjamin  F.  Butler  roused  the 
White  House  watchman.  Fifteen  minutes  later,  President  Lincoln 
"flew  around  the  [Cabinet]  room,  .  .  .  [his]  night  shirt  .  .  .  con- 
siderably agitated,"  and  danced  a  jig  with  Fox,  who  had  just  in- 
formed him  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Hatteras.1  About  4 :00  a.  m.  the 
following  morning,  August  31,  1861,  the  telegraph  key  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  drummed  out  the 
official  report: 

a  glorious  victory  at  Hatteras  Inlet,  [North  Carolina]  by  the 
joint  [army-navy]  expedition  under  the  command  of  Major  Gen- 
eral Butler  and  Commodore  [Silas]  Stringham.  .  .  .  Many 
captured.  .  .  .2 

The  Union  North  was  shaken  from  its  doldrums  by  the  Bull 
Run  defeat.  Bands  blared;  whistles  shrieked;  crowds  gathered. 
The  Boston  Journal  termed  the  victory  an  entering  wedge  into 
the  Confederacy ;  the  New  York  Herald  described  the  exploit  as 
a  "splendid  and  decisive  blow  .  .  .  which  surpasses  in  importance 
anything  yet  accomplished  against  the  enemy" ;  the  Philadelphia 
Public  Ledger  heralded  the  success  as  one  of  "the  most  important 
advantages  yet  gained  by  the  Government."3  In  Washington, 
General  Butler  was  led  to  the  National  Hotel  where  he  bellowed 
to  the  crowd:  "Oh,  it  was  glorious  to  see  .  .  .  [the]  arm  of  the 
Union  stretched  out  against  its  rebellious  children."4 

In  the  Confederate  South  the  scene  was  different.  "The  gleam 
of  sunshine  from  Hatteras,"  observed  a  London  Times  corre- 
spondent, "has  thrown  a  dark  shadow  across  the  South."5  Public 
reaction  varied.  An  irate  Confederate  Congress  demanded  in- 
telligence on  the  Hatteras  collapse.6  The  Richmond  Daily  Dis- 


1  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Autobiography  and  Personal  Reminiscences  .  .  .   (Boston,  1892),  288. 

2  Wool  to  Cameron,  Fort  Monroe,  August  31,  1861,  Jessie  A.  Marshall  [editor].  Private 
and  Official  Correspondence  of  Gen.  Benjamin  F.  Butler  .  .  .   (Norwood,  1917),  I,  236. 

a  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Frank  Moore,  ed.,  The  Rebellion  Record  .  .  .  (New  York,  1862),  III, 
24;  New  York  Herald,  n.  d.,  quoted  in  Salem  Register,  September  5,  1861;  and  Public  Ledger, 
(Philadelphia),  September  2,  1861. 

4  Public  Ledger   (Philadelphia),  September  3,  1861. 

5  The  Times    (London),  September  23,   1861. 

6  Resolution  of  Burton  Craige  (North  Carolina),  August  31,  1861,  "Journal  of  the  Congress 
of  the   Confederate  States   of  America,    1861-1865,"   Senate  Document,   No.   23k,   58   Cong.,   2 

[204  ] 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  205 

patch  admonished  southerners  for  being  spoiled  by  previous 
successes,  while  the  Petersburg  Express  jested  that  no  fresh 
water  existed  at  Hatteras  and  "Old  Butler  will  have  to  take  his 
brandy  and  whiskey  undiluted,  and  such  as  we  have  been  in- 
formed he  generaly  uses,  will  speedily  consume  his  vitals."7  But 
the  North  Carolinians  did  not  consider  the  defeat  a  jest.  The 
House  of  Representatives  was  aghast;  state  officials  scrambl- 
ed desperately  to  deflect  blame;  investigations  began;  tension 
heightened.8  "The  Yankee  capture,"  fretted  a  Raleigh  resident, 

amounts  to  this :  The  whole  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  is  now 
exposed  to  the  ravages  of  the  merciless  vandals.  .  .  .  [It]  is  now 
plunged  into  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  .  .  .  9 

One  Kentuckian  jotted  to  Navy  Secretary  Gideon  Welles  that  the 
attack 

has  alarmed  the  Confeds  more  than  anything  yet  that  has  been 
done.  We  have  people  continually  coming  from  that  direction, 
the  South,  who  tell  us  that  the  alarm  of  such  an  expedition  is 
raising  the  devil  in  all  their  sea  ports  and  distracts  them  very 
much.10 

The  elation  in  the  North  over  this  first  naval  victory  relieved 
the  Navy  Department  from  pressure,  which  had  been  continually 
mounting.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  Union  was 
caught  unprepared:  commissioned  vessels  were  scattered  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  South  Pacific.  Other  ships  were  under- 
going extensive  repairs.  A  Navy  Department  survey  counted 
only  twelve  vessels  in  home  waters,  of  which  four  were  in  north- 
ern ports  ready  for  duty.11  Without  waiting  for  Congress  to 

sess.  (Washington,  1904),  I,  456.  Also  see  Davis  to  Cobb,  Richmond,  August  31,  1861,  Official 
Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  (Washington, 
1897),  ser.  1,  VI,  137.    (Hereafter  cited  as  NOR.  All  Subsequent  citations  are  series   1.) 

7  Daily  Dispatch  (Richmond),  August  31,  1861;  and  Express  (Petersburg,  Virginia),  n.  d., 
quoted  in  Sacramento  Daily  Union,  October  1,  1861. 

8  Clark  to  Dortch,  Raleigh,  September  5,  1861,  North  Carolina,  Governor,  Capture  of  Hat- 
teras .  .  .  [Raleigh,  1861],  3-4;  Winslow  to  Clark,  Raleigh,  September  6,  1861,  North  Carolina, 
Governor,  Capture  of  Hatteras,  7;  Morris  to  Winslow,  Raleigh,  September  5,  1861,  North 
Carolina,  Governor,  Capture  of  Hatteras,  12.  Also  see  Standard  (Raleigh),  August  31,  1861, 
quoted  in  Sacramento  Daily  Union,  October  1,  1861;  Goldsborough  Tribune,  n.  d.,  quoted  in 
Daily  Richmond  Enquirer,  September  3,  1861;  and  Howard  Swiggett,  editor,  A  Rebel  War 
Clerk's  Diary  .  .  .    (New  York,  1935),  I,  77. 

9  Express  (Petersburg,  Virginia),  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  26.  For  addi- 
tional information  on  panic  caused  by  the  Hatteras  expedition,  see  Charleston  Mercury,  n.  d., 
quoted  in  Daily  Richmond  Enquirer,  September  7,  1861;  Wilmington  Journal,  n.  d.,  quoted 
in  Daily  Richmond  Enquirer,  September  2,  1861;  Newbern  Progress,  n.  d.,  quoted  in  Sacra- 
mento Daily  Union,  October  1,  1861;  and  Rowan  to  Stringham,  Fort  Hatteras,  September  5, 
1861,  NOR,  VI,  172. 

10  Nelson  to  Fox,  Maysville,  Kentucky,  September  25,  1861,  Robert  M.  Thompson  &  Richard 
Wainwright,  editors,  Confidential  Correspondence  of  Gustavus  Vasa  Fox  .  .  .  (New  York, 
1918),  I,  380. 

11  "Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  July  4,  1861,"  Senate  Executive  Document,  No.  1, 
37  Cong.,  1  sess.    (Washington,  1861),  86. 


206  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

assemble,  a  large  building  plan  was  undertaken,  and  great  quan- 
tities of  ships  of  all  sizes  were  purchased. 

The  Navy  Department's  sketch  of  its  operational  plans  in  early 
1861  included:  1)  the  blockade  of  southern  ports;  2)  the  organi- 
zation of  combined  army-navy  expeditions  against  strongholds 
on  the  Confederate  seaboard;  and  3)  the  pursuit  of  enemy 
privateers.  President  Lincoln  in  April,  1861,  issued  proclama- 
tions for  the  blockade  of  the  southern  seaboard  with  its  3,500 
miles  of  coastline.  Although  the  blockade  proved  to  be  the  Navy's 
greatest  contribution  to  the  Union  victory,  it  existed  only  on 
paper  for  several  months  after  the  proclamations.  The  lack  of 
ships  and  personnel  hindered  construction  of  the  commercially 
important  harbors.12  By  the  late  spring  of  1861,  the  Navy  was  in 
disrepute  for  its  inactivity.  Municipal,  state,  and  federal  officials 
descended  upon  the  department  demanding  ships  to  defend  har- 
bors and  to  patrol  the  coast.  One  public  official  stormed : 

The  growing  discontent  created  in  the  public  mind  by  the  ex- 
traordinary and  disheartening  delays  of  the  Navy  Department 
will  undoubtedly  soon  result  in  meetings  of  the  People,  who  will 
declare  their  want  of  confidence.  ...  A  month  has  elapsed  since 
the  Blockade  proclamation.  .  .  .  [yet]  every  Port,  south  of  the 
Chesapeake  ...  is  still  open.13 

An  obstacle  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  Union  blockade  was  the 
protection  afforded  southerners  by  their  coastline,  much  of  which 
was  supplied  with  a  double  shore,  punctured  with  numerous  in- 
lets. Small  ships  from  Carolina  ports  would  sneak  along  the 
inside  passage  until  they  reached  an  outlet,  and  then  dash  for 
the  open  seas.  Hatteras  Inlet  was  such  an  obstacle.  "The  Swash," 
as  the  inlet  was  referred  to  by  the  Federals,  was  a  long,  sandy 
barrier  off  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  six  miles  south  of  Cape 
Hatteras  and  about  ninety  miles  by  water  from  New  Bern  and 
Washington,  North  Carolina.  "Norfolk  and  Richmond,"  diag- 
nosed a  Union  naval  officer  in  June,  1861,  "are  not  yet  blockaded 
or  completely  cut  off  from  the  sea.  They  have  a  back  outlet.  .  .  ." 
Confederate  ships  could  be  passed  from  these  cities  through 


12  Charles  O.  Paullin,  "President  Lincoln  and  the  Navy,"  American  Historical  Review,  XIV 
(1909),  284-285,  294;  Carroll  S.  Alden  &  Allan  Westcott,  The  United  States  Navy  (Chicago, 
1943),  132-137,  140,  142-146;  and  Dudley  W.  Knox,  A  History  of  the  United  States  Navy 
(New  York,  1936),  191-195. 

13  Crea  to  Fox,  New  York,  May  29,  1861,  Thompson  &  Wainwright,  Confidential  Cor- 
respondence of  Gustavus  Vasa  Fox,  I,  359. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  207 

internal  waterways  to  Hatteras  or  neighboring  inlets.  This 
should  convince  officers,  continued  the  lieutenant,  of  "the  great 
advantages  and  facilities  the  enemy  will  have  in  possessing  this 
vast  internal  water  navigation  unmolested."14  Secessionists  also 
recognized  these  advantages.  Fortifications  of  these  outlets  were 
begun  and  by  the  middle  of  June,  1861,  despite  sandstorms,  the 
major  work  had  been  accomplished  on  Fort  Hatteras.15 

About  five  feet  high  with  slanting  sides  and  situated  an  eighth 
of  a  mile  from  the  channel  entrance,  the  fort  was  constructed 
from  sand,  mud,  and  turf.  Its  62-  and  32-pounders  commanded 
the  approaches  by  land  and  sea.  "I  hardly  think,"  speculated 
Colonel  W.  Bevershaw  Thompson,  chief  engineer  for  North  Caro- 
lina's coastal  defenses,  that  "a  flotilla  can  get  into  the  harbor."16 
A  second  bastion,  Fort  Clark,  "an  irregular  figure,"  smaller,  but 
constructed  similarly  to  Fort  Hatteras,  was  ready  for  service  in 
late  July  of  the  same  year.  The  two  redoubts,  located  about  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  from  one  another  on  the  same  island,  "secures  to 
us,"  boasted  Thompson,  "a  cross  fire  upon  .  .  .  the  entrance  to 
this  inlet.  I  now  consider  this  .  .  .  secure  against  any  attempt  of 
the  enemy  to  enter."17  Quickly,  other  fortifications  were  marked 
off  and  built  at  Ocracoke  and  Oregon  inlets,  two  neighboring 
outlets  to  the  sea. 

Gales  and  high  seas  off  the  North  Carolina  coast  frequently 
wrecked  Union  merchantmen  on  Hatteras  Island,  where  their 
crew  and  cargo  were  seized  by  Confederate  troops.18 

These  losses  were  unimportant  compared  to  the  toll  taken  by 
Confederate  privateers,  operating  from  Hatteras  Inlet.  A  look- 
out station  at  Cape  Hatteras  and  a  system  of  signals  enabled 
raiders  anchored  in  the  inlet  to  pounce  on  lone  merchantmen, 
when  the  blockading  vessels  patrolled  other  areas.  The  marauders 
would  "dash  out,"  bewailed  a  Union  naval  officer,  and  be  "back 
again  in  a  day  with  a  prize."19  After  Fort  Hatteras  was  con- 
structed, two  side-wheelers,  a  schooner,  a  tugboat,  and  a  pilot 


14  Lowry  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Pawnee,  Potomac  River,  June  1,  1861,  NOR,  V,  688. 

15  Thompson  to  Winslow,  Fort  Hatteras,  June  17,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times  (London), 
September  21,  1861. 

16  Thompson  to  Bradford,  Newbern,  June  13,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times  (London),  Sep- 
tember 21,  1861. 

17  Thompson  to  Winslow,  Fort  Hatteras,  July  25,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  713. 

18  Statements  of  Penny  and  Campbell,  New  York,  August  12,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  78;  news 
clippings,  n.  d.,  enclosed  in  letter  Welles  to  Stringham,  Washington,  August  8,  1861,  NOR, 
VI,  67-68;  Andrews  to  Clark,  Fort  Hatteras,  July  22,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times  (London), 
September  21,  1861;  and  Washington  columnist  quoted  in  Sacramento  Daily  Union,  September 
30,  1861. 

19  Selfridge  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Cumberland,  at  sea,  August  10,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  72. 


208  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

boat  operated  as  privateers,  the  most  notorious  of  which  was  the 
side-wheeler  Winslow.20  The  schooner  Priscilla  with  600  bushels 
of  salt,  a  large  brig  cargoed  with  sugar  and  molasses,  and  three 
schooners  were  a  week's  catch  during  July,  1861.21 

The  Confederate  ravages  caused  repercussions  in  Washington. 
Letters  deluged  the  Navy  Department.  A  committee  of  the  New 
York  Board  of  Underwriters  clamored  for  action  to  prevent 
further  captures  "by  the  pirates  who  sally  out  from  those  inlets" ; 
the  State  Department  reminded  Welles  that  the  rebels  were 
"doing  a  very  active  business  through  the  various  inlets  of  .  .  . 
North  Carolina" ;  the  Treasury  Department  mentioned  the 
depredations  on  United  States  commerce.22  As  irritating  were 
the  letters  from  junior  naval  officers,  hinting  that  something 
should  be  done  at  Hatteras.  The  "coast  of  Carolina  is  infested 
with  a  nest  of  privateers  that  have  thus  far  escaped  capture, 
advised  a  naval  lieutenant,  and  "in  the  ingenious  method  of  their 
cruising,  are  probably  likely  to  avoid  the  clutches  of  our 
cruisers."23 

In  turn,  Secretary  Welles  goaded  Commodore  Silas  H.  String- 
ham,  commanding  the  Atlantic  Blockading  Squadron,  with  a 
flood  of  derogatory  news  clippings  and  letters.  Welles  scolded 
that  Confederate  coastal  activities  had  alarmed  the  commercial 
community  and  had  caused  embarrassment  to  the  department. 
"There  is  no  portion  of  the  coast  which  you  are  guarding  that 
requires  greater  vigilance,"  continued  the  secretary,  "or  where 
well-directed  efforts  and  demonstrations  would  be  more  highly 
appreciated  by  the  Government  and  country  than  North  Caro- 
lina."24 Badgered,  Stringham  retorted  that  his  naval  force  was 
insufficient  to  cope  with  the  menace,  and  that  permanent  benefit 


20  Statements  of  Penny  and  Campbell,  New  York,  August  12,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  78;  Thompson 
to  Winslow,  Fort  Hatteras,  July  25,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  713;  Barron  to  Sinclair,  Newbern,  August 
27,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  718;  and  William  H.  Parker,  Recollections  of  a  Naval  Officer,  1841-1865 
(New  York,  1883),  212. 

21  Andrews  to  Clark,  Fort  Hatteras,  August  2,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times  (London),  Sep- 
tember 21,  1861.  Also  see  letters  Andrews  to  Clark,  Fort  Hatteras,  July  27,  August  8,  1861, 
quoted  in  The  Times  (London),  September  21,  1861.  For  an  account  of  privateering  activities 
at  Hatteras,  see  William  M.  Robinson,  Jr.,  The  Confederate  Privateers  (New  Haven,  1928), 
101-115. 

23  Smith,  Bierwirth,  and  Thompson  to  Welles,  New  York,  August  12,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  77-78; 
Godfrey  to  [State  Department],  Washington,  August  17,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  110-111;  Chase  to 
Welles  and  enclosures,  Washington,  July  16,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  27-29.  Also  see  The  New  York 
Times,  n.  d.,  quoted  in  Daily  Richmond  Examiner,  September  3,  1861;  and  The  Times  (Lon- 
don), September  24,   1861. 

23  Self  ridge  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Cumberland,  at  sea,  August  10,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  72; 
and  Lowry  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Pawnee,  Potomac  River,  June  1,  1861,  NOR,  V,  688-689. 

2*  Welles  to  Stringham,  Washington,  August  23,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  110.  Also  see  Welles  to 
Stringham,  Washington,  August  10,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  71. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  209 

could  only  result  with  the  aid  of  a  cooperating  army  detachment 
to  occupy  the  forts  at  the  mouths  of  the  harbors.25 

The  necessity  of  the  Hatteras  expedition  is  clear;  its  origin 
is  vague.  It  is,  perhaps,  to  be  credited  to  the  numerous  sugges- 
tions that  came  to  the  attention  of  Secretary  Welles.  Intelligence 
reports  of  Confederate  strength  filtered  back  to  Washington.  Im- 
prisoned for  months  at  Newbern,  North  Carolina,  ten  survivors 
of  captured  Union  merchantmen  were  released,  travelled  north- 
ward through  the  sounds  in  an  open  boat ;  and  were  subsequently 
picked  up  by  the  Quaker  City  and  taken  to  Hampton  Roads. 
Questioned,  they  reported  that  they  had  watched  as  many  as 
fifty  vessels  pass  through  Hatteras  Inlet,  nine  of  which  were 
prizes.  According  to  their  observations,  three  companies  were 
stationed  at  the  two  forts,  whose  supply  of  ammunition  was 
very  short.  In  calm  weather  pickets  extended  nearly  ten  miles 
up  the  beach ;  on  rough  days,  about  a  mile.  To  conclude,  the  sur- 
vivors declared  that  Union  forces  could  be  landed  anywhere  along 
the  beach  without  difficulty,  if  not  opposed  by  land  forces.26 

A  memorandum  from  naval  Lieutenant  Robert  B.  Lowrey  in 
June,  1861,  advised  Welles  that  there  was  no  part  of  the  country 
in  armed  rebellion  against  the  government  which  could  so  easily 
be  made  to  feel  the  power  of  the  United  States  by  its  occupation 
than  the  inland  coast  of  North  Carolina.27  A  similar  recom- 
mendation by  another  naval  lieutenant  pompously  predicted  that 
if  his  scheme  were  carried  into  operation  nothing  more  would 
be  heard  of  the  Carolina  marauders.28  According  to  Welles,  the 
seizure  of  important  ports  on  the  Confederate  seaboard  early 
commanded  the  attention  of  the  Navy  Department.  A  committee 
was  convened  by  the  secretary  to  make  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  "coast  and  harbors,  their  access  and  defences,"29  and,  pre- 
sumably, to  sift  through  the  numerous  suggestions.  This  work 
completed,  Welles  acted. 

Confidential  information  was  dispatched  to  Stringham  on 
August  9,  1861,  advising  that  the  obstruction  of  the  North  Caro- 


25  Stringham  to  Welles,  Hampton  Roads,  July  18,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  12.  Also  see  Stringham 
to  Welles,  August  8,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  66-67. 

26  Statements  of  Penny  and  Campbell,  New  York,  August  12,  1861,  NOR,  VI.  78-80.  Also 
see  Andrews  to  Clark,  Fort  Hatteras,  August  8,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times,  (London),  Sep- 
tember 21,  1861. 

27  Lowry  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Pawnee,  Potomac  River,  June  1,   1861,   NOR,   V.   688-689. 

28  Selfridge  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Cumberland,  at  sea,  August  10,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  72-73. 

29  "Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  December  2,  1861,"  Senate  Executive  Document, 
No.  1,  37  Cong.,  2  sess.    (Washington,  1862),  6. 


210  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

lina  coast  should  be  "thoroughly  attended  to.  .  .  ."30  The  opera- 
tional plan  called  for  the  capture  of  forts  Hatteras  and  Clark  and 
the  clogging  of  the  channel  entrance  by  sinking  schooners  loaded 
with  stone.  The  island  was  not  to  be  held  permanently.  On 
August  13,  orders  were  sent  to  Major-General  John  E.  Wool,  who 
had  recently  relieved  Butler  of  his  command  at  Fort  Monroe,  to 
organize  a  detachment  to  assist  the  naval  operations  against 
Hatteras;  on  the  22nd  Wool  was  informed  that  the  expedition 
"originated  in  the  Navy  Department,  and  is  under  its  control" ; 
on  the  24th  Wool  pressed  General  Winfield  Scott  for  25,000 
troops  to  carry  out  his  assignment;  on  the  25th  860  men  were 
assigned.31  Commanded  by  Major-General  Butler,  the  infantry 
was  composed  of  the  Ninth  and  Twentieth  New  York  Volunteers, 
plus  a  company  of  the  Second  United  States  Artillery  from  Fort 
Monroe.  To  news  reporters,  Wool  blurted  that  he  was  going  to 
make  such  demonstrations  upon  the  coasts  of  North  Carolina, 
Florida,  and  Louisiana  as  were  necessary  for  the  rebels  to  keep 
their  armies  at  home.32  To  army  officials,  Stringham  hinted  that 
the  transports  chartered  for  the  expedition  were  unseaworthy, 
causing  the  Navy  Department  "extreme  astonishment."33  Albeit, 
the  unsafe  steamers  Adelaide  and  George  Peabody  were  included 
in  the  conglomerate  naval  force,  which  consisted  of  Stringham's 
flagship,  the  steam  frigate  Minnesota,  steam  frigate  Wabash, 
gunboats  Monticello  and  Harriet  Lane,  steam  sloop  Pawnee,  tug- 
boat Fanny,  and  a  retinue  of  smaller  vessels — two  dismasted 
schooners,  two  iron  boats,  and  several  flat  fishing  smacks.  The 
sail  sloop  Cumberland  was  assigned  to  join  the  squadron  at  sea. 
In  addition  to  the  army  detachment,  the  sailors,  and  the  marines, 
a  group  of  Union  coastguardsmen  accompanied  the  expedition.34 
Secrecy  surrounded  the  force's  destination,  but  a  few  south- 
erners were  awake  to  the  peril  of  a  coastal  attack.  Our  defenses, 
bragged  the  Raleigh  Standard,  will  give  "the  Yankees  a  warm 
reception,"  and  assured  its  readers  that  the  southern  seacoast 
had  been  rendered  not  only  secure  against  attack,  but  prepared 


so  Welles  to  Stringham,  Washington,  August  9,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  70. 

31Townsend  to  Wool,  Washington,  August  13,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  82:  Townsend  to  Wool, 
Washington,  August  21,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  106;  Wool  to  Scott,  Fort  Monroe,  August  24,  1861, 
The  War  of  the  Rebellion:  .  .  .  Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies 
(Washington,  1882),  ser.  1,  IV,  603  (Hereafter  cited  as  AOR.  All  subsequent  citations  are 
series  1);  and  Churchill  to  Butler,  Fort  Monroe,  August  25,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  112. 

32  Albany  Evening  Journal,  n.  d\,  quoted  in  Public  Ledger   (Philadelphia),  August  19,  1861. 

^Welles  to  Stringham,  Washington,  August  22,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  107;  and  Stringham  to 
Welles,  Hampton  Roads,  August  23,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  108. 

84  See  Stringham  to  Welles,  New  York,  September  2,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  120. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  211 

for  offensive  operations.35  The  harbors  may  be  amply  protected, 
but,  questioned  the  Savannah  Republican,  are  the  creeks  and 
inlets  safe?36 

Early  on  the  morning  of  August  27,  a  Confederate  operator  at 
Norfolk  telegraphed  a  dispatch  southward:  "Enemy's  fleet  .  .  . 
left  last  evening;  passed  out  of  the  capes  and  steered  south," 
headed  for  the  coast  of  North  Carolina.37 

The  Union  squadron's  passage  from  Hampton  Roads  to  Fort 
Hatteras  proved  uneventful.  At  9:30  a.  m.  on  August  27,  Cape 
Hatteras  Light  was  sighted,  and,  after  rounding  the  shoals,  the 
squadron  dropped  anchor  to  the  southward  during  the  afternoon 
watch.  Gathered  in  the  wardroom  of  the  Minnesota,  officers  dis- 
cussed the  next  day's  operation.  Attack  plans  were  outlined. 
"The  works  are  pretty  strong,  and  we  may  have  a  hard  fight  of 
it,"  noted  Butler  to  his  wife  that  evening,  "but  we  mean  to  take 
them."38 

Across  the  water  in  a  Confederate  tent,  a  private  was  being 
court-martialled  for  catnapping  on  watch.  The  proceeding 
against  the  unfortunate  was  dropped.  The  Union  force  had  been 
sighted.  Colonel  William  A.  Martin,  commanding  the  forts,  hav- 
ing but  350  men,  urgently  dispatched  a  pilot  boat  to  Portsmouth, 
North  Carolina,  for  more  troops.39  An  army  lieutenant  expecting 
action  penned  to  his  father: 

In  all  probability  .  .  .  tonight  or  tomorrow  the  rattle  of  musketry 
and  roar  of  cannon  will  be  heard  here.  Old  Abe  has  waited  long, 
but  at  last  has  come,  and  one  would  suppose  with  the  determina- 
tion to  break  up  this  'hornet's  nest'  at  Hatteras.40 

The  Federal  assault  commenced  at  6:40  a.  m.  on  August  28. 
The  Monticello,  Harriet  Lane,  and  Pawnee  took  their  stations  to 
cover  the  landing  two  miles  from  Fort  Clark,  while  soldiers, 
marines,  and  coastguardsmen  in  small  boats  maneuvered  toward 
shore.  But,  reported  one  eye-witness,  "as  fast  as  they  neared  the 


35  Standard   (Raleigh),  n.  d.,  quoted  in  Public  Ledger   (Philadelphia),  September  4,   1861. 

36  Savannah  Republican,  n.  d.,  quoted  in  The  Southern  Enterprise  ( Thomasville,  Georgia), 
September  4,  1861.  Also  see  Wilmington  Journal  n.  d.,  quoted  in  Sacramento  Daily  Union, 
October  1,  1861;  and  a  Pensacola  correspondent  quoted  in  Daily  Richmond  Examiner,  Sep- 
tember 3,  1861. 

87Huger  to  Cooper,  Norfolk,  August  27,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  137.  Also  see  Clark  to  Walker, 
Raleigh,  August  29,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  137;  and  Gatlin's  report  concerning  North  Carolina's 
affairs,  Everettsville,  October  1,  1862,  AOR,  IV,  574. 

38  Butler  to  his  wife,  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  27,  1861,  Marshall,  Private 
and  Official  Correspondence  of  Gen.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  I,  227-228. 

"Martin  to  [Gatlin],  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  31,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  140. 

40  Briggs  to  his  father,  [Fort  Hatteras],  August  22-27,  1861,  quoted  in  The  Times  (London), 
September  21,  1861. 


212  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

beach  the  breakers  carried  them  aground.  .  .  ."41  Swamped,  the 
small  detachment  scrambled  up  the  beach  to  safety.  There  was 
confusion.  Colonel  Max  Weber  grimly  pictured  the  condition  of 
his  320  men:  "All  of  us  were  wet  up  to  the  shoulders,  cut  off 
entirely  from  the  fleet,  with  wet  ammunition,  and  without  any 
provisions."42  The  surf  boats  bilged,  whaleboats  were  then  em- 
ployed in  a  futile  attempt  to  discharge  more  troops.  By  late 
afternoon  further  plans  to  land  men  were  discarded.43 

Since  10 :10  a.  m.,  Fort  Clark  had  been  under  heavy  bombard- 
ment from  the  Wabash,  Cumberland,  and  Minnesota.  "Being  a 
fire  of  shells  only,"  said  Martin  in  the  bulwark,  "it  might  well 
be  spoken  of  as  a  flood  of  shells."44  Continually,  the  three  Union 
ships  passed  and  repassed,  belching  round  after  round  at  the 
fort  and  its  environs  where  troops  might  possibly  be  concealed. 
Promptly,  the  fort  had  returned  the  fire,  but  a  shout  of  "derisive 
laughter"  was  heard  from  the  Minnesota's  gundeck,  when  the 
shells  fell  a  half  mile  short.45 

The  side-wheeler  Susquehanna,  returning  to  Hampton  Roads 
after  her  tour  of  duty  with  the  West  Indian  Squadron,  chugged 
upon  the  scene  and  was  immediately  directed  to  join  in  the 
bombardment  at  11 :00  a.  m.  The  cannonading  was  stepped  up, 
and  the  air  was  "so  filled  with  smoke"  that  it  was  only  occas- 
sionally  that  the  Federals  could  see  the  batteries  on  shore,  noted 
a  news  reporter.46 

The  condition  of  Fort  Clark  became  precarious.  Brutally 
pasted  with  Yankee  troops  only  three  miles  away  and  ammuni- 
tion nearly  exhausted,  the  officers  agreed  to  evacuate  and  to  fall 
back  to  Fort  Hatteras.  Grasping  everything  they  could  carry 
and  spiking  their  five  guns,  the  fifty-five  men  retreated.47  At 
12:25  p.  m.,  a  shout  rang  out  on  board  the  Minnesota:  "They're 
running !"  Union  guns  were  silenced ;  the  Confederate  forts  were 
not  flying  their  colors.  Feeling  ran  high.  Officers  in  the  Minne- 
sota's wardroom,  who  that  morning  had  asked  the  surgeon  ques- 


41  New  York  Herald,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  24. 

42  Weber  to  Butler,  Fort  Hatteras,  September  5,  1861,  AOR,  IV,  589. 

43  Butler  to  Wool,  on  board  the  Minnesota,  off  Hatteras  Inlet,  August  30,  1861,  AOR, 
IV,  582;  and  Hawkin's  account,  Robert  U.  Johnson  &  Clarence  C.  Buel,  editors,  Battles  and 
Leaders  of  the  Civil  War  .  .  .    (New  York,   1887),  I,  632-633. 

44  Martin  to   [Gatlin],  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  31,   1861,  NOR,  VI,  141. 

45  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,   The  Republican  Record,  III,   18. 

46  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,   The  Republican  Record,  III,  18. 

47  Martin  to  [Gatlin],  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  31,   1861,  NOR,  VI,   141. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  213 

tions  about  wounds  and  treatments,  met  again  to  congratulate 
each  other  upon  the  victory.48  Their  joy  was  premature. 

To  reconnoiter  and  to  aid  the  soldiers  on  shore,  Butler,  at 
4:00  p.  m.,  had  the  Harriet  Lane  and  the  Montice llo  ordered  into 
the  treacherous  inlet.  As  the  Harriet  Lane,  preceded  by  the 
Monticello,  attempted  to  cross  the  bar,  guns  roared  from  Fort 
Hatteras.  The  Monticello's  pivot  gun  and  starboard  battery 
quickly  returned  the  fire.  In  peril  of  running  aground  and  the 
target  of  the  brisk  fire  from  the  fort,  the  gunboat,  declared  its 
commanding  officer,  was  in  a  "tight  place."  Having  little  room  in 
which  to  work  the  ship,  the  sailors  had  difficulty  heading  the 
Monticello  toward  open  water.  One  shell  tore  away  her  boat 
davits,  ramming  fragments  through  the  armory,  pantry,  and 
galley,  another  fragment  ripped  up  the  main  deck,  passed 
through  the  berthing  compartment,  the  paint  locker,  across  the 
fire  room  and  lodged  in  the  port  coal  bunker.49 

This  short  range  blasting  lasted  fifty  minutes  until  the  Minne- 
sota, Wabash,  and  Susquehanna  started  pummeling  both  forts 
with  their  batteries.  Viciously  drubbed,  the  Monticello  escaped 
out  of  range.  Dumbfounded,  the  Federal  troops,  who  by  this  time 
had  raised  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  were  shelled  out  of  Fort  Clark. 
A  retreat  was  hastily  executed.50  During  the  second  dog-watch, 
the  squadron's  guns  ceased  firing  because  of  darkness  and  the 
threatening  appearance  of  the  weather.  Stringham  commanded 
his  ships  to  withdraw  out  to  sea,  except  the  Monticello,  Harriet 
Lane,  and  Pawnee,  who  were  directed  to  lay  off  the  beach  to 
protect  the  soldiers.51 

On  board  the  flagship,  officers  and  men  were  uneasy  and 
despondent.  One  correspondent  chafed : 

The  feeling  throughout  the  ship  .  .  .  was  that  we  were  beaten.  It 
seemed  probable  that  the  vessels  stationed  to  protect  our  men  on 
shore  would  be  compelled  to  leave  them  to  the  mercy  of  the  rebels, 
.  .  .  During  the  night  the  secessionists  might  make  our  soldiers 
prisoners,  reinforce  their  own  forts,  repair  damages,  and  be 
ready  to  show  that  they  were  not  to  be  easily  vanquished. 


48  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  19.  Also  see  Stringham  to 
Welles,  New  York,  September  2,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  121. 

49  Gillis's  preliminary  report,  on  board  the  Monticello,  off  Hatteras  Inlet  August  30,  1861, 
NOR,  VI,  123;  and  Gillis  to  Welles,  on  board  the  Monticello,  off  Hatteras  Inlet.  August  31, 
1861,  NOR,  VI,  125-127;  and  abstract  of  the  Monticello's  log,  August  28,  1861,  NOR,  VI, 
135. 

50  Weber  to  Butler,  Fort  Hatteras,  September  5,  1861,  AOR,  IV,  589;  and  New  York  Herald, 
n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  25. 

61  Stringham  to  Welles,  New  York,  September  2,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  121. 


214  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Tired,  hungry,  and  disgusted,  officers  sat  down  to  their  evening 
meal  only  to  discover  that  it  had  been  stolen  from  the  galley.52 

Federal  troops  on  the  beach  suffered  greater  discomfort.  Rain 
fell.  The  men  discussed  the  possibility  of  capture.  An  officer  and 
twenty-eight  men  were  sent  that  night  to  regain  possession  of 
Fort  Clark;  pickets  were  put  out;  a  second  detachment  was  de- 
ployed to  occupy  the  beach  near  Fort  Hatteras.53 

A  mile  away  Confederate  spirits  were  heightened,  when,  under 
cover  of  darkness  Commodore  Samuel  Barron,  chief  of  the  Con- 
federate coastal  defenses,  and  about  230  officers  and  men  dis- 
embarked from  the  Winslow  and  other  light  draft  vessels  and 
joined  the  garrison.  The  new  arrivals  found  the  fort's  men 
exhausted  from  exposure  and  hard  fighting.  Urged  by  fellow 
officers,  Barron  consented  to  take  command  of  Hatteras.  Antici- 
pating further  reinforcements  at  or  before  midnight,  he  designed 
an  attack  upon  Fort  Clark  which  he  was  forced  to  discard  since 
the  additional  troops  did  not  arrive.54 

During  the  first  watch  the  Monticello,  Harriet  Lane,  and 
Pawnee  were  driven  seaward  by  the  weather,  but  before  dawn 
the  heavy  seas  subsided,  and  Union  ships  bustled  with  activity. 
At  5 : 30  a.  m.  the  squadron  weighed  anchor  and  stood  in  toward 
shore.  Warned  not  to  fire  on  Fort  Clark,  the  lead  ship,  the  Sus- 
quehanna, followed  closely  by  the  Wabash,  steamed  in  and  opened 
fire  on  Hatteras.  Later  the  Cumberland  came  in  under  sail, 
anchored,  and  turned  her  guns  on  the  fort  with  excellent  effect ; 
the  Harriet  Lane  joined  in  the  hostilities.  One  Confederate  officer 
described  the  barrage : 

Firing  of  shells  became  .  .  .  literally  tremendous,  as  we  had  fall- 
ing into  and  immediately  around  the  work  not  less  on  an  average 
of  10  each  minute,  and  the  sea  being  smooth,  the  firing  was 
remarkably  accurate.55 

The  ineffective  range  of  Confederate  guns,  the  lack  of  ammu- 
nition, and  the  casualties  finally  convinced  officers  that  further 
resistance  would  only  result  in  a  greater  loss  of  life  without 
damaging  the  adversary.  As  if  to  settle  their  hesitation,  a  shell 


52  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  19-20. 

53  Weber  to  Butler,  Fort  Hatteras,  September  5,  1861,  AOR,  IV,  689;  and  New  York  Herald, 
n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  25. 

54  Barron  to  Mallory,  on  board  tbe  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  31,  1861,  NOR.  VI,  138-139. 

55  Andrews  to  [Gatlin],  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  September  1,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  144. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  215 

fell  down  the  ventilator  shaft  into  a  room  next  to  the  principal 
magazine  locker.  Although  the  ensuing  fire  was  brought  under 
control,  Barron  ordered  the  white  flag  run  up  at  11 :07  a.  m.56 

Spying  the  surrender  colors,  the  sailors  on  board  the  Minne- 
sota "flew  to  the  rigging,  and  from  ship  to  ship  rang  the  cheers 
of  victory."57  Shortly  before,  Butler  with  a  small  detachment 
had  disembarked  into  the  Fanny  to  effect  a  landing.  Hearing  the 
cheers  and  whistles  of  victory,  the  General  ordered  the  tugboat 
to  head  into  the  inlet.  The  Fanny  anchored,  Butler  sent  his  aide 
in  a  rowboat  ashore  to  demand  the  meaning  of  the  white  flag. 
He  returned  quickly  bringing  a  memorandum  from  Barron, 
which  stated  that  to  avoid  further  bloodshed  he  was  willing  to 
surrender  the  bulwark,  if  the  officers  and  men  were  set  free. 
In  reply,  Butler  irately  dispatched  the  following : 

The  terms  offered  are  these:  Full  capitulation;  the  officers  and 
men  to  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war.  No  other  terms  admis- 
sable.  .  .  . 58 

Meanwhile,  the  transports  George  Peabody  and  Adelaide  with 
the  remaining  troops  headed  into  the  inlet,  followed  by  the 
Harriet  Lane.  The  George  Peabody  safely  navigated  the  channel, 
but  the  Adelaide  and  the  Harriet  Lane  piled  up  on  a  sand  bar. 
The  quick  action  of  Commander  Henry  Stellwagen  freed  the 
transport;  the  Harriet  Lane,  however,  remained  hard  aground. 
"This  to  me,"  said  Butler  later, 

was  a  moment  of  the  greatest  anxiety.  By  this  accident  a  valuable 
ship  of  war  and  transport  steamer  [loaded  with  troops]  .  .  .  was 
[sic]  in  front  of  the  enemy.  I  had  demanded  the  most  stringent 
terms  which  he  was  considering.  He  might  refuse,  and  .  .  .  renew 
the  actions.59 

After  waiting  anxiously  forty-five  minutes  but  determined  "not 
to  abate  a  'tittle/  "  Butler's  fears  were  eased  when  Barron  and 
two  high-ranking  officers  boarded  the  tugboat  and  informed  the 
General  that  his  terms  had  been  accepted.  Weighing  anchor,  the 
Fanny  steered  out  of  the  inlet  toward  the  Minnesota.  On  board 


56  Barron  to  Mallory,  on  board  the  Minnesota,  at  sea,  August  31,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  139. 

57  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  20. 

58  Butler  to  Barron,   [Hatteras  Inlet,  August  29,  1861],  AOR,  IV,  583. 

68  Butler  to  Wool,  on  board  the  Minnesota,  off  Hatteras  Inlet,  August  30,  1861,  AOR,  IV, 
584. 


216  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  flagship,  the  Confederate  officers  signed  the  articles  of  capi- 
tulation, which  called  for  unconditional  surrender.60 

Butler  and  a  small  force,  together  with  Colonel  Weber  and  his 
troops,  who  by  this  time  had  surrounded  Hatteras,  formally  took 
the  surrender  of  the  fort.  Disembarked  from  the  transports  now 
anchored  in  the  sound,  the  Federal  troops  marched  into  the 
bastion  and  raised  the  Union  flag.  To  celebrate  the  victory,  Butler 
and  his  men  set  about  to  fire  a  thirteen-gun  salute.  At  the  order 
"fire"  the  guns  sputtered  and  then  fizzled,  and,  due  to  the  strong 
wind,  the  men  standing  a  few  yards  away  instantly  became 
covered  with  kernels  of  unburned  powder.61 

About  600  Confederates  were  herded  on  board  the  Adelaide 
along  with  their  wounded.  Southern  casualties  were  seven  dead 
and  thirty  wounded.62  When  the  prisoners  were  on  board  the 
Adelaide,  "the  call  for  water  was  universal,"  reported  one  crew 
member, 

and  their  thirst  appeared  unquenchable.  .  .  .  The  prisoners  said 
they  had  had  no  water  fit  to  drink  since  they  had  been  in  the 
Fort.  They  were  perfectly  exhausted,  and  could  lie  down  any- 
where for  a  nap.63 

Upon  examination  of  the  redoubt,  it  was  discovered  that  the 
enemy's  armament  was  deficient,  not  because  of  its  grade,  but 
for  "the  utter  worthlessness  of  the  powder  used."64  Surrendered 
were  650  stands  of  small  arms,  twenty-five  cannon  in  and  around 
the  fort,  tents  for  650  men,  a  supply  of  onions,  bread,  and  coffee, 
a  brig  containing  a  quantity  of  cotton,  two  schooners,  and 
whiskey,  which,  said  a  pious  Boston  reporter,  "was  the  most 
dangerous  enemy  our  troops  were  called  upon  to  meet."65 

The  only  damage  to  the  Union  force  was  the  Harriet  Lane, 
still  aground  in  the  inlet.  The  crew  endeavored  to  float  her; 
ammunition,  stores,  provisions,  spars,  coal,  and  32-pounders 
were  jettisoned.  Men,  boats,  and  equipment  were  rushed  from 


so  Articles  of  Capitulation,  August  29,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  120. 

81  Butler's  testimony,  January  15,  1862,  "Report  of  the  Point  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of 
the  War,"  Senate  Report,  No.  108,  pt.  iii,  37  Cong.,  3  sess.    (Washington,  1863).  284. 

62  For  Confederate  casualties,  see  King  to  Stellwagen,  Hampton  Roads,  August  31,  1861, 
NOR    VI    128-129 

68  Public  Ledger  (Philadelphia),  September  3,  1861. 

6t  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  22;  and  Butler's  testimony, 
January  15,  1862,  "Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  .  .  .  ,"  Senate  Report,  No.  108,  pt.  iii,  37 
Cong.,   3  sess.,  284. 

66  Boston  Journal,  n.  d.,  Moore,  The  Republican  Record,  III,  22. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  217 

the  other  ships  in  the  squadron.  On  board  the  grounded  vessel, 
all  hands  were  kept  busy  throughout  the  night,  but  to  no  avail.66 

Late  the  same  evening,  Butler  and  Stringham  met  in  the  com- 
modore's cabin.  Their  orders  had  been  explicit.  The  Federal 
forces  were  to  level  the  forts,  block  the  channel,  and  return. 
However,  the  General  recognized  that  Hatteras  would  be  invalu- 
able as  a  depot  for  the  blockading  squadron,  as  a  safe  refuge  in 
all  weathers  for  the  coasting  trade,  and  as  a  staging  area  for 
future  operations  against  North  Carolina  and  Virginia.67  Orders, 
therefore,  were  disobeyed:  the  forts  were  not  levelled,  nor  the 
channel  blocked. 

To  hold  the  inlet,  troops  and  a  naval  force  consisting  of  the 
Monticello,  Pawnee,  Susquehanna,  and  the  grounded  Harriet 
Lane  remained  behind.  The  following  day,  August  30,  1861,  the 
squadron  headed  northward  and  Butler  arrived  in  Washington 
late  the  same  night.  On  September  5,  Secretary  of  War  Simon 
Cameron  dispatched  the  following  message  to  Wool: 

The  position  at  Cape  Hatteras  must  be  held,  and  you  will  adopt 
such  measures,  in  connection  with  the  Navy  Department,  as  may 
be  necessary  to  effect  the  object.68 

The  seizure  of  Hatteras  was  successful  because  of  the  squad- 
ron's accurate  fire  with  its  smothering  effect  on  the  forts.  The 
most  notable  flaw  in  the  execution  of  the  maneuver  was  the  lack 
of  organization.  Faulty  intelligence  may  have  been  responsible 
for  the  singular  lack  of  foresight  displayed  in  landing  troops 
through  the  breakers.  If  the  planning  had  been  thorough  or 
Union  leaders  more  aggressive,  thrusts  at  neighboring  Con- 
federate cities  might  have  created  considerable  havoc.  Instead 
of  "wasting  time  in  speechifying,"  censured  the  Philadelphia 
Public  Ledger,  Stringham  and  Butler  should  have  followed  up 
their  blows.69  A  Confederate  naval  officer  confided  that  the 
enemy  erred  in  not  taking  possession  of  the  sounds  immediately 

after  capturing  Hatteras — "there  was  nothing  to  prevent  it "70 

Had  there  been  more  troops,  more  light  draft  vessels  which  could 
easily  navigate  through  the  sounds,  a  carefully  elaborated  and 


66  Faunce  to  Stringham,  Hampton  Roads,  September  6,  1861,  NOR,  VI,  129-131. 

67  Butler  to  Wool,  on  board  the  Minnesota,  off  Hatteras  Inlet,  August  30,  1861,  AOR,  IV, 
584-585. 

68  Cameron  to  Wool,  Washington,  September  5,  1861,  AOR,  IV,  606. 

69  Public  Ledger    (Philadelphia),   September  6,    1861. 

70  Parker,  Recollections  of  a  Naval  Officer,  215. 


218  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

aggressive  plan  of  attack,  the  Hatteras  expedition  could  have 
pushed  into  North  Carolina,  as  Federal  troops  did  a  year  later. 

Credit  for  the  initial  success  of  the  expedition  must  be  given 
to  the  Federal  Navy — unaided,  the  squadron  gained  the  imme- 
diate objective.  Confederate  officers  refused  to  surrender  to  the 
Army,  but  insisted,  since  it  was  a  naval  victory,  the  articles  of 
capitulation  be  drawn  up  jointly  between  Union  army  and  naval 
officers.  Although  the  Army  played  a  secondary  part  in  the 
attack,  it  was  essential  to  hold  what  had  been  won.  The  wisdom 
of  the  decision  to  garrison  the  island  became  evident  in  1862, 
when  Hatteras  became  the  staging  area  for  the  successful  army- 
navy  expedition  against  Roanoke  Island.  Lessons  learned  during 
the  Hatteras  attack  no  doubt  aided  future  combined  expeditions 
against  Port  Royal,  Roanoke  Island,  New  Orleans,  Mobile  Bay, 
and  Fort  Fisher. 

The  capture  of  forts  Hatteras  and  Clark  was  a  timely  victory 
for  the  Union.  Coming  soon  after  the  disaster  at  Bull  Run,  it 
bolstered  northern  morale.  The  effect  of  the  victory  in  New  York, 
a  columnist  declared,  "contributes  to  the  cheerful  feeling  that 
prevails,  by  encouraging  hope  that  the  tide  of  victory  is  now 
turned  from  the  rebels  to  the  Union  arms."71  In  Washington,  the 
Hatteras  success  strengthened  the  position  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment. Merchants  and  insurance  officers  of  New  York  posted  a 
congratulatory  letter  to  Commodore  Stringham,  expressing  their 
gratitude  for  the  breakup  of  the  Hatteras  privateers.72  The  vic- 
tory "has  gilded  the  weathercocks  of  the  Navy  Department.  .  .  " 
observed  a  foreign  correspondent.73  "It  gives  us  the  advantage  . . . 
of  our  navy,  from  which  we  have  hitherto  derived  no  benefit 
commensurate  with  its  cost  or  its  power,"  noted  one  Union  news- 
paper.74 Not  only  did  the  expedition  quicken  northern  morale  and 
gain  prestige  for  the  department,  but  it  caused  alarm  in  North 
Carolina  and  dejection  throughout  most  of  the  South.  According 
to  Chief  Engineer  Thompson,  North  Carolina  had  relied  upon 
its  fortifications  at  the  island,  and,  when  these  installations  gave 
way,  residents  thought  the  whole  thing  was  gone.75  The  Union 
Navy's  timing  had  caught  the  southern  coastal  defenses,  at  least 


71  New  York  columnist  quoted  in  Public  Ledger   (Philadelphia),  September  2,  1861. 

72  Public  Ledger   (Philadelphia),  September  4,  1861. 

78  The  Times    (London),   September  23,   1861.  Also  see   September   16,   1861. 
7*  Public  Ledger    (Philadelphia),   September  2,  1861. 

75  Butler's  testimony,   January   15,   1862,    "Report  of  the   Joint   Committee  .   .   .   ,"   Senate 
Report,  No.  108,  pt.  iii,  37  Cong.,  3  sess.,  288. 


The  Hatteras  Expedition,  August,  1861  219 

at  Hatteras,  unprepared.  The  officers  and  men  at  the  fort  had 
gone  about  their  daily  affairs,  satisfied  with  the  success  6i  th^ 
privateers,  and  had  been  unconcerned  with  strengthening  the 
defenses. 

Another  important  result  of  the  victory  was  that  the  Navy's 
objectives,  as  outlined  in  1861 — to  blockade  the  rebellious  ports, 
to  attack  coastal  strongholds,  to  choke  privateer  activity — were 
indeed  fulfilled  in  the  combined  assault  upon  Hatteras  Inlet.  The 
rendezvous  area  quashed,  Confederate  marauders  from  Hatteras 
no  longer  preyed  upon  Union  cargo  ships  plying  the  coast  of 
North  Carolina.  Fortifications  at  another  outlet,  Oracoke,  were 
captured  without  a  struggle  in  late  September,  1861,  by  blue- 
jackets sent  from  Fort  Hatteras.  Two  months  later,  schooners 
loaded  with  stone  were  sunk  at  Ocracoke,  closing  this  outlet  com- 
pletely to  Confederate  commerce  and  raiders.  These  successful 
operations  completed,  the  Union  blockade,  so  important  to  the 
ultimate  Union  victory,  was  considerably  strengthened. 


PAPER  MANUFACTURING  IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA 
l      >;' |    ,  ,   .        BEFORE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

By  Ernest  M.  Lander,  Jr. 

At  the  time  that  Dr.  Charles  Herty  made  his  discoveries  for 
manufacturing  paper  from  southern  pines  very  few  paper  mills 
were  to  be  found  in  the  Southeast  and  none  in  South  Carolina. 
Yet  long  before  the  Civil  War  a  small  paper  manufacturing  in- 
dustry sprang  up  in  South  Carolina,  and  between  1806  and  1860 
at  least  nine  mills  were  erected  within  the  state,  four  by  one 
company.  However,  during  the  Civil  War  and  the  years  immedi- 
ately following  the  industry  disappeared  entirely. 

George  Waring,  of  Columbia,  constructed  the  first  paper  mill 
in  the  state  and  in  November,  1806,  announced  that  it  would  be 
in  operation  within  a  few  weeks.  He  asserted  that  the  success  of 
"this  expensive  experiment' '  depended  greatly  on  public  aid  in 
preserving  old  rags,  which  he  would  gladly  purchase.1  In  part- 
nership with  his  brother  Benjamin  he  operated  the  factory  until 
sometime  after  the  War  of  1812.  Although  the  brothers  carried 
on  a  rather  extensive  trade  with  Waring  and  Hayne,  Charleston 
factors,  nothing  is  known  of  the  size  of  the  establishment,  the 
labor  force  employed,  or  the  productivity  of  the  mill.2 

The  second  paper  mill  in  South  Carolina  was  likewise  estab- 
lished near  Columbia.  J.  J.  Faust  and  Company,  printers  and 
publishers,  constructed  it  on  the  banks  of  the  Broad  River  within 
two  miles  of  the  town  and  started  operations  in  January,  1827. 
Local  newspapers  immediately  began  to  use  the  factory's  news- 
print, labeled  by  one  editor  as  "excellent."  He  said  that  the 
proprietors  intended  to  expand  the  facilities  of  the  mill  and  pro- 
duce a  finer  grade  of  paper.3  However,  J.  J.  Faust  and  Company 
did  not  retain  ownership  of  the  establishment  for  long.  Within 
a  year  James  J.  B.  White,  William  A.  Bricknell,  and  John  B. 
White  had  secured  control.  They  decided  to  renovate  the  plant 
and  re-equip  it  with  more  up-to-date  machinery.  In  February, 


1  The  South  Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbian  Advertiser  (Columbia),  November  15, 
1806. 

2  George  Waring  Papers,  in  possession  of  Dr.  J.  I.  Waring,  Charleston,  S.  C.  A  directory 
of  business  firms  in  Columbia  listed  the  mill  as  late  as  May  14,  1816.  The  Telescope  (Colum- 
bia). Benjamin  Waring,  a  large  planter,  also  operated  a  tanyard  and  had  been  a  partner 
in  the  ill-fated  cotton  mill  venture  at  Stateburg,  1790-1795.  Charleston  Courier,  February  26, 
1845;  Joseph  Johnson,  Traditions  and  Reminiscences  Chiefly  of  the  American  Revolution  in 
the  South  .  .  .    (Charleston,   S.   C,   1851),   196. 

8 South-Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbia  Advertiser   (Columbia),  April  28,  1827. 

[220] 


Paper  Manufacturing  in  South  Carolina  221 

1831,  with  apologies  to  the  public  for  delays  and  inconveniences 
caused,  they  announced  it  to  be  in  ' 'complete  order  and  full 
operation."  Their  labor  force  consisted  of  "a  number  of"  white 
journeymen  and  black  slaves.4  Unfortunately,  their  efforts  came 
to  nought,  for  less  than  a  year  later  fire  destroyed  the  mill  with 
all  its  new  equipment  at  a  loss  of  nearly  $10,000.  Having  no 
insurance,  the  partners  made  no  attempt  to  rebuild  the  factory ; 
consequently,  their  remaining  outbuildings  and  workers'  accom- 
modations, costing  another  $10,000,  became  practically  a  dead 
loss.5 

In  1834  Andrew  Patterson,  a  so-called  "wealthy  and  per- 
severing" paper  manufacturer  from  Tennessee,  purchased  the 
site  of  Adam  Carruth's  old  armory  six  miles  below  Greenville 
and  announced  that  he  would  have  a  paper  mill  in  operation 
within  twelve  months.  He  was  overly  optimistic  in  his  forecast, 
for  the  factory  did  not  turn  out  its  first  paper  until  August,  1836. 
In  the  meantime,  James  A.  Patterson  joined  him  in  the  venture. 
By  1840  the  factory  was  employing  thirty  workers  and  annually 
producing  $20,000  worth  of  paper  products.  Although  seemingly 
prosperous  the  Pattersons  soon  lost  control  of  the  property  when 
their  creditors,  including  Benajah  Dunham,  filed  suit  against 
them  for  over  $12,000.  After  considerable  litigation  the  sheriff 
in  February,  1842,  sold  the  paper  mill  under  the  hammer.  Dun- 
ham bought  the  property  for  only  $3,300.6 

Benajah  Dunham,  sometime  mayor  of  Greenville,  decided  to 
embark  upon  paper  manufacturing  on  a  large  scale.  In  1846  he 
secured  a  charter  from  the  state  legislature  incorporating  the 
Greenville  Manufacturing  Company  with  an  authorized  capital 
of  $50,000,  and  a  year  later  a  visitor  reported  that  Dunham  had 
one  twenty-horsepower  mill  in  operation  making  coarse  paper, 
while  at  the  same  time  "rebuilding"  a  larger  one  of  thirty  horse- 
power for  manufacturing  finer  grades.  A  sawmill,  a  woodwork- 
ing shop,  and  a  blacksmith  shop  were  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment.7 Both  paper  mills  were  wooden  structures,  the  larger 


i  Southern  Times  &  State  Gazette  (Columbia),  February  23,  1831.  In  1829  White,  Brick- 
nell,  and  White  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  to  relieve  their  workmen  of  road,  patrol, 
and  militia  duty,  all  of  which  greatly  hampered  the  efficient  operation  of  the  mill.  They 
maintained  that  their  establishment  was  of  considerable  benefit  in  keeping  money  at  home 
that  formerly  went  north  for  paper.  MSS  File — "Public  Improvements:  Manufacturing," 
South   Carolina  Historical   Commission,   Columbia 

5  Charleston  Courier,  January  10,  1832. 

6  Sixth  Census  of  the  United  States,  1840,  Statistics  (Washington,  1841),  199;  Charleston 
Courier,  January  17,  1834,  September  9,   1836;  Greenville  County,  Deed  Book  V,   255-257. 

7  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina  (12  volumes,  Columbia,  S.  C,  1836-1874),  XI,  426- 
27;  Charleston  Courier,  October  15,  1847. 


222  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

one  being  a  four-story  building.8  Another  account  stated  that 
most  of  Dunham's  papermakers  and  skilled  mechanics  were  his 
own  slaves.9 

On  February  10,  1849,  Dunham  suffered  a  severe  setback  when 
fire  destroyed  both  paper  mills,  about  20,000  pounds  of  rags,  and 
$2,000  worth  of  paper.  His  total  loss  was  at  least  $20,000.  Al- 
though he  had  no  insurance,  he  immediately  rebuilt  a  paper  mill 
and  the  following  year  sold  it  with  his  tin  manufactory  for 
$20,000  to  the  reorganized  Greenville  Manufacturing  Company. 
Dunham  took  stock  as  payment  and  was  elected  president  of  the 
concern.  His  nephew  James  B.  Sherman  was  named  secretary- 
treasurer  and  Greenville  agent  for  the  factory.  The  corporation 
soon  had  two  paper  mills  in  operation  again.10 

On  the  Reedy  River,  a  mile  below  Dunham's  establishment, 
Vardry  McBee  in  1844  installed  paper  manufacturing  machinery 
under  the  same  roof  with  his  cotton  mill.  By  the  end  of  the  decade 
his  factory,  valued  at  $10,000,  was  as  productive  as  Dunham's. 
Each  turned  out  120,000  pounds  of  paper  annually,  McBee  using 
fifteen  workers  and  Dunham  nineteen.11 

In  1849  a  group  of  entrepreneurs,  including  several  prominent 
Charleston  businessmen,  organized  and  procured  from  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  a  charter  for  the  South  Carolina  Paper  Manu- 
facturing Company.  It  was  to  be  capitalized  at  $20,000  with  the 
privilege  of  extending  its  stock  to  $60,000.  Five  years  later  the 
legislature  amended  the  charter  to  permit  the  company  to  in- 
crease its  capital  stock  to  $150,000.12  The  stockholders  selected 
for  their  president  Ker  Boyce,  a  Charleston  capitalist  who  was 
also  a  large  investor  in  the  Graniteville  Manufacturing  Company 
and  one  of  the  richest  men  in  the  state.  Joseph  Walker  was  named 
secretary-treasurer  and  agent  in  Charleston,  and  Sumner  Brown, 
"a  gentleman  of  large  experience  in  the  business"  from  Connecti- 
cut, was  hired  as  superintendent.13 


8  The  Spartan  (Spartanburg),  February  13,  1849. 
»  The  Southern  Patriot    (Greenville),  May  30,  1851. 

10  The  Spartan  (Spartanburg),  February  13,  1849;  The  Southern  Patriot  (Greenville), 
June  17,  1852;  Greenville  County,  Deed  Book  W,  332.  Dunham's  will  in  1853  showed  that  he 
had  owned  $20,000  worth  of  stock  in  the  company,  $5,000  worth  of  which  was  sold  to 
Sherman.  Greenville  County,  Wills,  Apt.  13,  No.  130. 

11  Charleston  Courier,  September  9,  1844,  October  15,  1847;  MS,  Census  1850,  Products  of 
Industry,    South    Carolina:    Greenville   District,    South    Carolina   Historical   Commission. 

12  Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  XI,  559-60;  XII,  321. 

13  Charleston  Courier,  February  12,  1851;  The  Spartan  (Spartanburg),  February  27,  1851. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  in  1854  Boyce  owned  $15,000  worth  of  stock  in  the  company  and 
was  probably  the  largest  shareholder.  His  entire  estate  was  valued  at  well  above  $1,000,000. 
MS,  Account  of  the  Division  of  Ker  Boyce's  Estate,  James  Petigru  Boyce  Papers,  Library  of 
Congress.  Other  associates  included  Benjamin  C.  Pressley,  Ettsell  L.  Adams,  A.  V.  Dawson, 
and  James  Purvis.  Petition  for  incorporation  by  the  South  Carolina  Paper  Manufacturing 
Company,   1849,  MSS  File — "Pub.   Imp.:    Mfg.,"   South   Carolina   Historical   Commission. 


Paper  Manufacturing  in  South  Carolina  223 

The  South  Carolina  Paper  Manufacturing  Company  located  its 
plant  on  Horse  Creek  a  few  miles  below  Graniteville  and  within 
100  feet  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad.  Superintendent  Brown 
contracted  with  Goddard,  Rice  and  Company,  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts, to  furnish  more  than  $10,000  worth  of  the  latest  type  of 
machinery,  and  in  February,  1852,  Walker  notified  the  machin- 
ists that  the  buildings  were  ready  for  the  installation  of  the 
equipment.14 

The  establishment  consisted  of  a  large  two-story  brick  build- 
ing, 250  by  50  feet,  with  a  one-story  wing,  40  by  40,  a  stockhouse, 
90  by  40,  a  depot,  60  by  30,  and  a  number  of  cottages  for  the 
workers.  The  canal,  running  parallel  with  the  railroad,  was  one- 
half  mile  long.  The  water  it  supplied  turned  five  wheels,  but  that 
was  still  insufficient  power  for  the  machinery,  and  a  small  sta- 
tionary steam  engine  was  used  as  an  auxiliary.  The  labor  force 
consisted  of  about  fifty  employees,  of  whom  one-half  were  women 
and  girls  and  a  dozen  were  slaves.15 

The  Bath  Paper  Mills,  as  the  establishment  became  known 
after  1858,  was  the  largest  factory  of  its  type  in  the  South  on  the 
eve  of  the  Civil  War.  Its  capital  investment  was  $100,000  and 
it  annually  manufactured  900,000  pounds  of  paper  valued  at 
$81,000.16 

One  other  paper  mill  was  established  in  the  state  before  1860. 
Philip  C.  Lester,  a  Greenville  cotton  manufacturer,  in  February, 
1853,  entered  into  a  partnership  with  Thomas  L.  and  P.  T. 
Fowler  to  erect  a  plant  on  Rocky  Creek  in  Greenville  District.  It 
was  to  be  situated  near  his  cotton  factory.  Each  partner  was  to 
put  up  $600  cash  to  be  used  for  purchasing  machinery  when 
needed,  but  Lester  was  to  retain  title  to  the  land  until  all  debts 
had  been  extinguished.17 

South  Carolina  paper  mills  turned  out  a  variety  of  products, 
all  of  which  generally  received  praise  from  the  local  press.  The 


14  Goddard,  Rice  and  Company  to  Joseph  Walker,  December  10,  1851;  Joseph  Walker  to 
J.  H.  Hayden,  March  12,  1852,  Hayden  Family  Papers,  Library  of  Congress. 

15  Camden  Weekly  Journal,  March  8,  1853;  Charleston  Daily  Courier,  February  11,   1860. 

16  Eighth  Census  of  the  United  States,  1860,  Manufactures    (Washington,  1865),  554. 

17  Greenville  County,  Deed  Book  X,  59-60.  It  should  be  noted  that  South  Carolina  counties 
were  known  as  "districts"  until  1868.  Several  other  paper  mills  were  projected  from  time  to 
time,  but  none  apparently  began  operations.  In  1824  William  Campbell,  of  Yorkville,  formed 
a  partnership  with  Thomas  Falls,  of  Tennessee,  to  erect  a  paper  mill  in  York  District. 
Pioneer  and  Yorkville  Advertiser,  February  7,  1824.  Ten  years  later  a  company  was  organized 
to  build  one  near  Vaucluse  cotton  factory  in  Edgefield  District.  The  buildings,  so  it  was 
reported,  had  been  constructed  and  an  agent  sent  north  to  buy  the  machinery.  Niles'  Weekly 
Register,  XLVI  (August  2,  1834),  384.  In  1847  a  partnership  was  reported  to  have  been 
formed  in  Columbia  for  the  same  purpose.  The  South  Carolinian  (Columbia),  June  1,  1847. 
Three  years  later  the  Hamburg  Paper  Mills  was  incorporated  by  the  General  Assembly. 
Statutes  at  Large  of  South  Carolina,  XII,  38-39. 


224  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Warings  sent  newsprint  and  wrapping  paper  to  Charleston. 
White,  Bricknell,  and  White  produced  newsprint,  wrapping 
paper,  and  pasteboard.  Dunham's  agent  in  Columbia  listed 
wrapping  paper,  brown  and  blue  yarn  paper,  heavy  bag  paper, 
yellow  envelope  paper,  and  apothecaries  blue  paper.  The  South 
Carolina  Paper  Manufacturing  Company  turned  out  book  paper, 
newsprint,  and  manila  wrapping  paper.  This  company  adver- 
tised: "No  pains  or  expense  has  been  spared  to  render  it  equal 
to  the  best  Northern  mills,  all  the  latest  and  most  approved 
machinery  having  been  introduced  into  the  same."18 

A  correspondent  who  visited  McBee's  and  Dunham's  mills  in 
Greenville  District  reported  that  they  manufactured  all  qualities 
of  paper  from  "the  finest  Letter  Sheet  to  the  common  brown 
Wrappers  and  all  sizes  and  colours."19  The  Greenville  Mountain- 
eer called  McBee's  paper  "a  most  excellent  article  and  would  do 
credit  to  any  manufactory  in  the  United  States."20  At  one  time 
when  McBee's  factory  temporarily  ceased  operations  the  editor 
of  the  Laurensville  Herald  apologized  to  his  readers  for  the  poor 
quality  of  paper  he  had  to  use  as  a  substitute.  He  proclaimed 
McBee's  paper  to  be  "far  superior"  to  any  he  had  procured 
previously.21 

In  the  technique  of  manufacturing,  as  employed  by  McBee  and 
Dunham,  women  and  children  first  sorted  the  best  rags  for  sep- 
arate processing.  The  rags  next  passed  through  a  wire  sieve 
duster  and  into  a  boiling  vat  of  strong  lime  water.  After  this  an 
engine  cut  them  into  small  pieces,  and  the  rags  went  through 
another  boiling,  which  included  bleaching  and  dyeing.  A  machine 
and  a  mangling  tub  reduced  the  mass  to  pulp  of  the  proper  con- 
sistency to  make  paper.  A  stream  of  water  then  washed  it  down 
a  trough  against  a  revolving  cylinder  of  fine  wire  which  picked 
up  the  pulp  and  passed  it  onto  a  piece  of  woolen  cloth  brushing 
against  the  other  side  of  the  cylinder.  The  cloth  with  the  pulp 
passed  over  two  or  three  steam-heated  cylinders  which  dried 
the  pulp,  thus  making  paper.22 

All  the  paper  factories  found  a  market  for  a  considerable  por- 


18  George  Waring  to  Waring  and  Hayne,  November  30,  1809,  January  13,  1810,  George 
Waring  Papers;  South-Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbia  Advertiser  (Columbia),  June  28, 
1828;  The  Daily  Telegraph  (Columbia),  February  3,  1848;  Charleston  Daily  Courier,  March 
25,  1853. 

19  Charleston  Courier,   September  9,   1850. 

20  May  2,   1845. 

21  October  6,  1854. 

22  Charleston  Courier,  October  5,  1849,  September  9,  1850. 


Paper  Manufacturing  in  South  Carolina  225 

tion  of  their  products  within  their  home  state.  As  already  seen, 
the  Warings  sent  much  of  their  paper  to  Charleston.  J.  J.  Faust 
and  Company  and  its  successors,  White,  Bricknell,  and  White, 
supplied  newsprint  for  newspapers  in  the  Columbia  area  and 
sent  its  products  as  far  into  the  back  country  as  Yorkville.23 
McBee  boasted  of  numerous  clients  among  the  piedmont  news- 
papers, and  Joseph  Walker  was  his  agent  in  Charleston  before 
the  South  Carolina  Paper  Manufacturing  Company  was  organ- 
ized.24 Dunham  shipped  his  paper  either  to  Columbia  or 
Augusta.25 

When  the  South  Carolina  Paper  Manufacturing  Company 
began  operations  with  its  output  of  3,000  pounds  of  paper  per 
day,  it  spread  its  sales  to  Augusta,  Charleston,  Savannah,  and 
even  as  far  away  as  New  Orleans  and  Nashville.26  The  rapidity 
with  which  it  could  fill  a  large  order  was  reported  by  the  Daily 
Courier,  September  11,  1858.  On  Saturday,  September  4,  the 
Charleston  agent  received  notice  of  a  ship  sailing  for  New 
Orleans.  He  telegraphed  the  mill's  manager  in  Augusta,  and  the 
latter  sent  down  shipments  nightly  on  the  express  freight  train 
to  Charleston.  Up  to  Friday  morning,  September  10,  nearly  600 
reams  of  large  printing  paper  valued  between  $2,500  and  $3,000 
had  been  delivered  aboard  the  vessel. 

For  a  time  during  the  late  forties  and  early  fifties  the  South 
Carolina  mills  appeared  to  be  unable  to  meet  the  demand.  The 
Carolina  Times,  a  Columbia  paper,  on  one  occasion  found  that  it 
would  have  to  wait  for  two  months  before  it  could  obtain  any 
newsprint  from  Joseph  Walker,  the  agent  for  the  South  Carolina 
Paper  Manufacturing  Company.  Its  editor  turned  to  an  agent 
for  one  of  the  Greenville  mills — probably  Dunham's — and  was 
informed  that  a  commission  merchant  from  the  north  had  en- 
gaged all  that  the  mill  could  manufacture  in  the  next  year.  He 
finally  had  to  purchase  paper  from  outside  the  state.27 

One  of  the  major  problems  the  paper  mill  proprietors  faced 


23  Pioneer  &  South-Carolina  Whig  (Yorkville),  December  18,  1830.  J.  J.  Faust  received 
encouragement  from  the  Camden  Journal,  May  12,  1827;  but  the  Pendleton  Messenger,  No- 
vember 7,  1827,  explained  that  infrequent  intercourse  between  Pendleton  and  Columbia  forced 
it  to  buy  its  paper  from  Philadelphia.  It  was  sent  by  water  up  the  Savannah  River. 

24  Charleston  Courier,  September  9,  1850.  Among  the  newspapers  that  patronized  McBee 
were  the  Laurensville  Herald,  October  6,  1854;  The  Spartan  (Spartanburg),  February  13, 
1849;  the  Greenville  Mountaineer,  May  2,  1845;  and  The  Southern  Patriot  (Greenville), 
February  28,  1851. 

25  Charleston  Courier,  September  9,  1850.  Dunham's  Columbia  agent  advertised  500  reams 
of  his  paper  in  The  Daily  Telegraph   (Columbia),  October  20,  1847. 

26  Charleston  Daily  Courier,  February  11,  1860. 

27  Cited  in  Charleston  Daily  Courier,  March  3,  1854. 


226  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

from  first  to  last  was  that  of  procuring  rags.  George  Waring 
experienced  some  such  difficulty.  He  advertised  for  rags,  offering 
from  $1.00  per  hundredweight  for  old  woolen  rags  up  to  $5.00 
for  clean  linen  rags.28  To  his  kinsman  Richard  Waring  in  Charles- 
ton he  wrote:  "Let  me  know  if  it  would  be  convenient  for  you 
to  purchase  or  receive  old  Rags  and  send  up  here  by  Boat,  I 
would  always  endeavor  to  have  money  in  your  hands  for  that 
purpose  and  allow  you  ten  per  cent  on  the  cost  of  the  Rags."  That 
method  apparently  became  standard  procedure  for  obtaining 
raw  materials.  Several  years  later  Waring  wrote  Waring  and 
Hayne :  ". .  .  the  proceeds  of  the  Paper,  I  wish  to  remain  in  your 
hands,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  for  Rags,  which  you  will  do 
when  you  meet  with  any  person  who  will  deliver  them  on  board 
of  the  Boat  well  packed,  none  will  answer  but  clean  Cotton  or 
linen  Rags,  and  I  think  best  to  be  packed  in  Boxes."29 

Benajah  Dunham's  agents  collected  rags  for  him  whenever 
they  could  procure  them.  He  also  sold  paper  in  August  for  tin 
plate,  which  he  manufactured  into  finished  products  in  his  tin 
manufactory.  These  in  turn  he  sold  in  his  store  to  local  citizens 
for  rags.  Another  source  of  raw  materials  for  Dunham,  as  well 
as  the  other  Greenville  paper  manufacturers,  was  through  the 
Tennessee  wagon  trade,  which  brought  in  high  quality  flaxen 
rags  to  exchange  for  cotton  yarn.30  Besides  these  sources  some 
of  the  mills  purchased  cotton  waste  from  nearby  textile  mills. 
Even  so,  it  was  frequently  difficult  to  obtain  enough  raw  material 
to  keep  in  full  operation,  and  on  one  occasion  McBee  closed  his 
factory  for  that  reason.  The  scarcity  of  raw  material  may  have 
been  the  prime  factor  in  causing  him  to  stop  altogether  in  1858 
and  offer  his  machinery  for  sale.31 

All  the  South  Carolina  paper  mills  went  through  a  period  of 
reorganization  just  prior  to  the  Civil  War.  How  many,  if  any, 
could  attribute  their  financial  troubles  to  the  panic  of  1857 
cannot  be  determined.  William  Gregg,  the  well-known  cotton 
manufacturer,  said  in  1860  that  they  suffered  from  the  lack  of 


28  The  South  Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbian  Advertiser  (Columbia),  November 
15,  1806. 

^November  12,  1806,  January  13,  1810,  George  Waring  Papers.  J.  J.  Faust  and  Company 
offered  to  pay  $3.50  per  hundredweight  for  all  linen,  cotton,  and  hemp  rags  or  old  sail 
cloth,  South-Carolina  State  Gazette  and  Columbia  Advertiser   (Columbia),  April  7,   1827. 

a>  The  Southern  Patriot    (Greenville),  May  30,   1851;  Charleston   Courier,   October   15   1847. 

31  Laurensville  Herald,  October  6,  1854,  January  29,  1858.  The  South  Carolina  Paper 
Manufacturing  Company  advertised  widely  for  rags.  Part  of  its  raw  material  was  waste 
from  the  nearby  Vaucluse  cotton  factory.  Camden  Weekly  Journal,  July  11,  1854;  MSS, 
Letterbooks,  J.  J.  Gregg  and  Company,  I,  326,  South  Caroliniana  Library,  Columbia. 


Paper  Manufacturing  in  South  Carolina  227 

home  patronage.  For  that  reason  the  South  Carolina  Paper 
Manufacturing  Company  "lost  its  first  capital,"  as  he  put  it.32  Be 
that  as  it  may,  in  1858  the  company  leased  its  plant  for  several 
years  to  John  G.  Winter,  George  W.  Winter,  and  John  McKinney, 
who  operated  it  under  a  charter  of  their  own :  Bath  Paper  Mills 
Company.33 

When  Philip  Lester's  partnership  with  the  Fowlers  expired  in 
1858,  their  mill  had  earned  insufficient  profits  to  reduce  the  in- 
debtedness of  the  enterprise.  Thereupon,  all  three  owners  agreed 
that  the  property  should  remain  in  Lester's  hands.  With  the  aid 
of  his  three  sons  Lester  continued  to  run  the  factory,  listed  in 
1860  as  having  a  capital  investment  of  $8,000  and  employing 
nine  workers.34 

Benajah  Dunham's  establishment  continued  operations  after 
his  death  in  1853,  but  under  the  name  of  J.  B.  Sherman  and 
Company.  However,  its  financial  structure  was  insecure  due  to 
the  fact  that  it  was  indebted  to  a  considerable  amount  to  Dun- 
ham's estate.  In  1857  his  executors  brought  suit  against  the 
company  and  forced  it  into  bankruptcy.  For  a  mere  $3,655  it  was 
sold  to  two  buyers  who  declared  their  intention  of  discontinuing 
paper  making,  but  a  few  months  later  Robert  Greenfield  pur- 
chased the  factory  and  resumed  the  business  of  manufacturing 
paper.35 

In  sum,  South  Carolina  had  three  paper  mills  in  operation  on 
the  eve  of  the  sectional  conflict:  the  Bath  Paper  Mills,  Green- 
field's, and  Lester's.  They  were  capitalized  at  $111,000,  employed 
fifty-seven  workers,  and  annually  produced  paper  worth  almost 
$100,000.  For  the  states  destined  to  secede  Virginia  led  in  the 
number  of  mills  and  in  the  value  of  annual  production  with  nine 
and  $270,000,  respectively.  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  South 
Carolina  followed  in  the  order  given.  In  view  of  the  production 
of  the  northern  mills  the  South' s  output  was  negligible,  for  New 
York  alone  had  126  mills,  and  the  total  for  the  United  States  was 
555,  whose  yearly  production  amounted  to  over  $21,000,000 
worth  of  paper.36 


32  William    Gregg,    "Southern    Patronage    to    Southern    Imports    and    Southern    Industry," 
DeBow's  Review,  XXIX   (August,  1860),  230. 

33  Charleston  Daily  Courier,   March    3,    1858;   December,    1858;   Statutes  at   Large   of   South 
Carolina,  XII,  599-600. 

34  Greenville  County,   Deed   Book  Y,   661-66,   669;   MS,    Census    1860,    Products   of   Industry, 
South  Carolina:   Greenville  District. 

35  Charleston  Daily  Courier,   September  28,   November   9,   1857;  Keowee  Courier    (Pickens), 
July  3,  1858. 

88  Eighth  Census,  1860,  Manufactures,  cxxxi. 


PAPERS  FROM  THE  FIFTY-FIRST  ANNUAL  SESSION 

OF  THE  STATE  LITERARY  AND  HISTORICAL 

ASSOCIATION,  RALEIGH,  DECEMBER,  1951 

INTRODUCTION 

By  Christopher  Crittenden 

The  fifty-first  annual  session  of  the  State  Literary  and  His- 
torical Association  was  held  at  the  Hotel  Sir  Walter  in  Raleigh, 
Friday,  December  7,  1951.  Meeting  concurrently  with  the  Asso- 
ciation were  the  North  Carolina  Folklore  Society,  the  North 
Carolina  State  Art  Society,  the  North  Carolina  Society  for  the 
Preservation  of  Antiquities,  the  North  Carolina  Society  of 
County  and  Local  Historians,  and  the  Roanoke  Island  Historical 
Association.  At  the  morning  meeting  of  the  Association,  with 
President  Robert  Lee  Humber  of  Greenville  presiding,  the  fol- 
lowing papers  were  read :  "Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colo- 
nial Town,"  by  E.  Lawrence  Lee,  Jr.,  of  Chapel  Hill;  "How  it 
Feels  to  be  a  Writer/'  by  Mrs.  Frances  Gray  Patton  of  Durham ; 
and  "North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951,"  by  Frontis 
W.  Johnston  of  Davidson.  At  the  business  session  which  followed, 
the  Association  voted,  among  other  things,  to  raise  the  dues  from 
$2  to  $3  per  year  so  that  all  members  might  receive  copies  of 
The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review. 

At  the  evening  meeting  President  Humber  presided  and  de- 
livered an  address  and  Associate  Justice  S.  J.  Ervin,  Jr.,  gov- 
ernor of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants  in  North  Carolina, 
announced  that  the  annual  Mayflower  Cup  award  had  been 
made  to  Jonathan  Daniels  of  Raleigh  for  his  book,  The  Man  of 
Independence.  The  meeting  was  brought  to  a  close  by  an  address, 
"Unsolved  Mysteries  in  the  Life  of  George  Washington,"  by 
Douglas  Southall  Freeman  of  Richmond,  Virginia. 

Two  of  these  papers  are  included  in  the  pages  that  follow,  and 
it  is  believed  that  they  will  be  read  with  interest  both  by  those 
who  did  not  have  the  opportunity  to  hear  them  in  the  first 
instance  and  also  by  those  who,  though  they  were  present  when 
the  papers  were  delivered,  will  nevertheless  enjoy  the  opportu- 
nity to  refresh  their  memories  as  to  what  was  said.  In  some  cases 

[228] 


Papers  from  Fifty-first  Annual  Session  229 

the  editors  have  made  certain  revisions  and  the  usual  editing 
has  been  done,  but  in  no  instance  has  the  original  meaning  been 
materially  altered. 


OLD  BRUNSWICK,  THE  STORY  OF  A  COLONIAL  TOWN 

By  E.  Lawrence  Lee,  Jr. 

A  visitor  to  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear  River  in  early  1725 
would  have  found  an  uninhabited  wilderness.  No  white  man  lived 
within  100  miles,1  and  even  the  Indians  who  had  once  lived  there 
were  gone.2  Other  than  the  sea,  only  a  trader's  footpath  con- 
nected the  region  with  the  outside  world.3  The  visitor  might  have 
chanced  upon  the  ruins  of  former  habitations,  which  would  have 
been  the  remains  of  earlier  efforts  of  the  English  to  settle  there. 

In  the  1660's  several  groups  attempted  to  establish  a  settle- 
ment along  the  river.  Apparently  these  ventures  were  ill-planned 
and  resulted  in  much  suffering  and  hardship.  In  1667  the  Cape 
Fear  was  abandoned,  and  the  Lords  Proprietors,  to  whom  Charles 
II  of  England  had  granted  the  Carolinas  in  1663,  shifted  their 
interest  to  other  parts  of  their  vast  holdings.  The  infant  settle- 
ment of  Albemarle  in  northeastern  North  Carolina  was  encour- 
aged by  them,  and  to  the  south,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ashley 
and  Cooper  rivers,  Charles  Town  was  founded.  In  order  to  con- 
centrate population  in  these  two  areas,  the  Proprietors  prohibited 
settlement  within  twenty  miles  of  the  Cape  Fear  River.4 

From  the  opening  of  the  18th  century,  however,  circumstances 
were  developing  which  were  to  turn  the  eyes  of  Englishmen 
again  to  the  Cape  Fear.  England,  as  a  maritime  nation,  was 
dependent  upon  a  constant  supply  of  naval  stores,  which  for 
years  she  had  obtained  from  the  Scandinavian  nations.  During 
Queen  Anne's  War,  difficulties  were  encountered  in  obtaining 
these  supplies,  and  she  turned  to  her  American  colonies  as  a 
more  dependable  source.  The  colonial  producers  were  granted 
bounties  to  offset  the  advantages  of  experience  and  shorter 
hauling  distances  enjoyed  by  the  Scandinavian  states.  At  first 
it  was  expected  that  American  production  would  center  in  New 
England,  but  the  milder  climate  and  longer  growing  season  of 
the  South  caused  attention  to  shift  to  that  section.5 


1 W.   L.  Saunders    (ed.).   The  Colonial   Records  of  North   Carolina    (Raleigh:    P.   M.   Hale, 
1886;  Josephus  Daniels,  1887-1890),  III,  436.  Hereinafter  cited  as  C.  R. 

2  Chapman   J.  Milling,   Red  Carolinians    (Chapel   Hill:    The   University   of   North    Carolina 
Press,   1940),   226. 

3  Joseph  W.  Barnwell,  "The  Second  Tuscarora  Expedition,"  The  South  Carolina  Historical 
and  Genealogical  Magazine,  X   (January,  1909),  no.  1,  map  facing  32. 

*C.  R.,  II,  118. 

5  Justin    Williams,    "English    Mercantilism    and    Carolina    Naval    Stores,     1705-1776,"     The 
Journal  of  Southern  History,  I   (May,  1935),  no.  2,   169-185. 

[230] 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       231 

The  Cape  Fear  region  was  ideally  suited  to  the  production  of 
naval  stores  in  the  form  of  pitch,  tar  and  turpentine.  Vast  acres 
of  pine  trees  provided  the  raw  material,  and  a  network  of 
navigable  streams,  with  the  Cape  Fear  as  the  main  artery,  made 
the  exploitation  of  these  resources  possible. 

Among  the  far-sighted  men  who  saw  the  potentialities  of  the 
region  were  George  Burrington  and  Maurice  Moore.  Burrington 
came  to  North  Carolina  as  governor  in  January,  1724,  and  before 
the  end  of  three  months  he  had  arbitrarily  lifted  the  Proprietors' 
ban  against  settlement  on  the  Cape  Fear.6  The  following  winter 
he  went  there  at  the  head  of  several  exploratory  parties  which 
sounded  the  river  inlet  and  channel  and  otherwise  prepared  the 
way  for  occupancy.7 

With  the  physical  and  legal  impediments  to  colonization  re- 
moved, the  settlers  entered  with  Maurice  Moore  in  the  lead. 
Moore  was  a  member  of  a  wealthy  and  influential  South  Carolina 
family  who  came  to  North  Carolina  in  1713  to  assist  in  putting 
down  the  Indian  insurrection.  He  remained  and  married  the 
daughter  of  Alexander  Lillington,  and  through  this  union  became 
connected  with  many  of  the  most  prominent  families  in  North 
Carolina.8  Because  of  his  connections  in  both  provinces  he  was 
able  to  influence  a  number  of  people  to  settle  on  the  Cape  Fear. 
Among  those  who  came  from  South  Carolina  were  his  brothers, 
Roger  and  Nathaniel  Moore,  and  Eleazar  Allen  and  William  Dry. 
From  the  Albemarle  section  came  Edward  Moseley,  John  Porter, 
John  Baptista  Ashe,  Cornelius  Harnett,  the  Elder,  and  others.9 
Unlike  the  usual  frontier  immigrant,  these  men  were  not  the  poor 
and  downtrodden,  seeking  relief  from  oppression.  On  the  con- 
trary many  of  them  were  men  who  had  attained  wealth  and  in- 
fluence in  their  former  homes  and  were  seeking  new  opportunities 
to  increase  their  economic  and  political  well-being.  They  came 
with  slaves  and  other  property,  and,  beginning  with  the  first 
recorded  grants  on  June  3,  1725,10  acquired  vast  landholdings. 
Not  only  did  they  secure  large  quantities  of  land,  but  they  chose 


«C.  R.,  II,  529. 

7  C.  R.,  Ill,  138,  259,  434-435,  436. 

8  Samuel  A.  Ashe  (ed.).  Biographical  History  of  North  Carolina,  From  Colonial  Times 
to  the  Present  (Greensboro,  N.  C:  Charles  L.  Van  Noppen,  1905),  II,  294;  North  Carolina 
Land  Grants    (office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Raleigh),  I,  273. 

8  Mabel  L.  Webber,  "The  First  Governor  Moore  and  His  Children,"  The  South  Carolina 
Historical  and  Genealogical  Magazine,  XXXVII  (January,  1936),  no.  1,  17-19;  "Documentary 
History  of  Wilmington — No.  1,"  The  North  Carolina  University  Magazine,  V  (August,  1856), 
no.  6,  244;  C.  R.,  Ill,  338. 

10  New  Hanover  County  Registry  Records,  E,  242;  Land  Grants,  II,  263,  272-273. 


232  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  best  locations  along  the  navigable  streams.11  The  small  land- 
owner was  not  excluded,  but  he  was  discouraged  from  entering, 
and  so  the  lower  Cape  Fear  from  the  beginning  became  a  region 
of  large  plantations,  with  an  economy  based  not  on  agriculture, 
but  on  the  pine  forests  with  naval  stores  as  the  principal 
products. 

In  this  growing  settlement  it  was  natural  that  the  need  of  a 
commercial  center  would  arise.  Maurice  Moore  anticipated  this 
need  and  the  result  of  his  foresight  was  the  town  of  Brunswick. 
For  this  village  Moore  chose  a  location  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
river  about  fifteen  miles  above  its  mouth  and  approximately  the 
same  distance  below  the  point  where  the  stream  divided  into  two 
branches.  While  the  forks  offered  certain  advantages  as  a  loca- 
tion, Moore's  decision  was  influenced  by  the  fact  that  a  shoal  in 
the  river,  called  the  "Flats,"  several  miles  above  his  chosen  site, 
blocked  the  passage  of  all  but  small  craft.12  Naval  stores  were 
bulky  and  could  be  shipped  economically  only  in  large  vessels. 
Brunswick  was  located  in  order  that  such  ships  might  be  accom- 
modated. 

The  village  was  situated  on  an  elevated  platform  which  offered 
a  sweeping  view  of  the  river.  The  soil  was  sandy,  but  a  good  clay 
sub-soil  provided  a  firm  foundation.  The  location  was  generally 
level,  though  here  and  there  were  depressed  beds  of  the  small 
streams  which  drained  the  area.  A  slight  indentation  in  the 
shore  line  offered  some  protection  for  shipping,  and  the  depth  of 
the  channel  at  that  point  permitted  vessels  to  anchor  within 
a  short  distance  of  shore. 

Lots  were  laid  off  and  on  June  30,  1726,  the  first  property 
transaction  in  the  village  occurred  when  Moore  contracted  to  sell 
two  of  these  lots  to  Cornelius  Harnett,  the  father  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary hero  of  the  same  name.13  In  the  following  year,  Harnett, 
a  tavern  keeper,  obtained  a  license  to  operate  a  ferry  from 
Brunswick  to  the  east  side  of  the  river.14  This  ferry  was  a  link 
on  the  only  road  connecting  the  northern  colonies  with  South 
Carolina. 


n  C.  R.,  Ill,  254. 

12  Hugh  Meredith,  An  Account  of  the  Cape  Fear  Country,  1731,  edited  by  Earl  Gregg  Swam 
(Perth  Amboy,  N.  J.:  Charles  F.  Heartman,  1922),  15-16;  Evangeline  W.  and  Charles  M. 
Andrews  (eds.),  Journal  of  A  Lady  of  Quality  (New  Haven:  Yale  University  Press,  1921), 
282. 

is  New  Hanover  County  Registry  Records,  AB,  71. 

"  C.  R..  II,  698. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       233 

The  village  grew  slowly,  but  by  1729  was  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  be  designated  as  the  seat  of  government  of  New  Hanover 
Precinct  which  was  established  in  that  year.  Though  the  town 
was  not  provided  with  a  system  of  municipal  government,  it 
was  stipulated  that  a  courthouse  be  built  there,  and  that  the  pre- 
cinct courts  be  held  there,  as  well  as  all  public  and  church 
elections.15 

With  this  the  village  became  the  commercial  and  political 
center  of  the  new  settlement,  but  it  was  not  long  before  a  rival 
community  began  to  develop  a  few  miles  upstream.  The  village 
of  Newton  had  its  beginning  about  173316  when  a  few  traders 
settled  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  near  the  confluence  of  the 
northeast  and  northwest  branches.  This  was  a  natural  develop- 
ment. In  early  America  there  were  few  roads,  and  those  that 
did  exist  were  inferior  and  often  impassable.  Water  transporta- 
tion went  far  to  offset  this  deficiency,  and  all  who  could  settled 
on  or  near  navigable  streams.  The  Cape  Fear,  with  its  many 
tributaries,  served  as  a  network  of  water  highways  and  the  point 
where  the  two  branches  of  the  river  met  was  the  logical  trading 
place  for  the  people  who  settled  along  these  streams.  Though 
large  vessels  could  not  proceed  that  far  upriver,  ships  from  the 
other  North  American  colonies  and  from  the  West  Indies  could, 
and  so  it  was  as  the  center  of  local  trade  that  Newton  began  and 
grew. 

As  time  passed  a  bitter  rivalry  developed  between  the  pro- 
moters of  the  two  communities,  but  the  die  was  cast  in  favor 
of  the  Newton  faction  when  Gabriel  Johnston  arrived  in  the  fall 
of  1734  to  succeed  Burrington  as  governor.  Johnston  acquired  a 
lot  in  Newton  as  well  as  a  tract  of  land  adjoining  the  village  and 
openly  favored  its  development  as  opposed  to  that  of  Brunswick.17 
The  climax  of  this  rivalry  came  in  February,  1740,  when  Newton 
was  incorporated  as  Wilmington.  As  a  result  of  this  action  the 
seat  of  government  of  New  Hanover  County  was  transferred  to 
Wilmington,  as  were  all  port  officials.  From  this  time  on  Wil- 
mington was  the  center  of  the  lower  Cape  Fear.18 


15  Walter  Clark  (ed.),  The  State  Records  of  North  Carolina  (Winston,  N.  C:  M.  I.  and 
J.  C.  Stewart,  1895-1896;  Goldsboro,  N.  C:  Nash  Brothers,  1898-1906),  XXIII,  146-147,  (here- 
inafter cited  as  S.  R.);  C.  R.,  IV,  486. 

16  Kemp  P.  Battle  (ed.),  "Letters  and  Documents,  Relating  to  the  Early  History  of  the 
Lower  Cape  Fear,"  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph  No.  U  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University 
of   North   Carolina   Press,    1903),    60-61. 

17  Nina  Moore  Tiffany  (ed.),  Letters  of  James  Murray,  Loyalist  (Boston,  1901),  36:  S.  R., 
XXIII,  133. 

i8  S.  R.,  XXIII,  146-149. 


234  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

It  was  apparent  to  many  persons  whose  scope  of  mind  trans- 
cended mere  political  rivalry  that  this  concentration  of  interest 
on  Wilmington  was  a  narrow  policy.  To  them  it  was  obvious  that 
the  continued  existence  of  Brunswick  as  a  deepwater  harbor  was 
of  vital  concern  to  the  whole  region.  A  well-populated  port  cap- 
able of  furnishing  adequate  supplies  and  protection  from  enemy 
raids  was  the  best  means  by  which  the  entry  of  large  vessels 
could  be  assured.  The  realization  of  this  fact  resulted  in  several 
steps  being  taken  to  encourage  the  growth  of  Brunswick. 

The  port  officials  who  moved  to  Wilmington  in  1740  were 
transferred  back  to  Brunswick.  This  meant  that  all  Cape  Fear 
shipping  was  required  to  enter  and  clear  at  the  lower  town.  In 
1745  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  which  contained  pro- 
visions to  strengthen  property  titles  in  the  village,  to  govern  its 
physical  appearance,  and  to  control  moral  conduct  within  its 
limits.  A  commission  was  appointed  to  administer  the  terms  of 
the  act,  but  this  was  not  a  municipal  governing  body  in  the  com- 
monly accepted  sense  of  the  term.  Instead  it  was  a  self -perpetu- 
ating body  with  restricted  authority.19  In  1766  the  law  was 
modified  to  allow  the  election  of  the  members  of  this  group  by 
the  inhabitants,  but  their  powers  remained  the  same.  This  was 
the  closest  the  village  ever  came  to  attaining  local  government.20 

Other  important  factors  in  the  political  development  of  the 
town  were  the  receipt  of  the  right  to  representation  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1757,21  and  its  designation  as 
the  seat  of  government  of  Brunswick  County  upon  its  establish- 
ment in  1764.22  The  right  of  representation  was  shared  with 
only  seven  other  North  Carolina  towns,  and  as  a  county  seat 
Brunswick  again  became  a  political  center  of  some  importance. 

In  view  of  these  conscious  efforts  to  promote  the  importance 
of  Brunswick,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  most  significant 
political  phase  of  the  town's  history  came  about  simply  because 
the  royal  governors  of  North  Carolina  chose  to  make  their  home 
there  from  1758  to  1770.  North  Carolina  had  no  established 
capital  at  that  time.  The  General  Assembly  meetings  were  held 
alternately  at  Wilmington  and  New  Bern,  but  Brunswick,  more 


is  S.  R.,  XXIII,  239-243. 
20  S.  R.,  XXIII,  749-750. 
2i  C.  R.,  V,  890;  VI,  228-229. 
22  S.  R.,  XXIII,  622-627. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       235 

than  any  other  place,  might  be  termed  the  executive  capital  of 
the  province  during  that  period. 

Regardless  of  Brunswick's  political  status,  its  accessibility  was 
its  greatest  asset  and  upon  this  its  being  rested.  The  Port  of 
Brunswick,  which  also  included  Wilmington,  was  the  largest 
port  in  North  Carolina.  In  terms  of  tonnage  about  two-thirds  of 
the  shipping  of  the  port  used  the  harbor  facilities  of  the  town  of 
Brunswick,  with  the  balance  going  to  Wilmington.  Though  the 
two  towns  were  separated  by  only  a  few  miles,  there  was  a  wide 
divergence  in  the  nature  of  their  commerce.  Generally  speaking, 
almost  all  of  the  shipping  from  Brunswick  went  to  England, 
while  that  of  Wilmington  was  about  equally  divided  between 
other  North  American  colonies  and  the  British  West  Indies.23 

As  already  stated  the  economic  foundation  of  the  Cape  Fear 
was  based  on  the  products  of  the  forest  which  consisted  of  naval 
stores,  lumber  and  livestock.  This  last  category  is  so  classified 
because  the  pine  mast,  acorns,  and  wire  grass  of  the  wooded 
areas  furnished  the  chief  source  of  feed  for  the  animals.24  Con- 
trary to  popular  opinion,  little  rice  was  exported.25  In  fact,  the 
region  produced  little  other  than  the  staples  noted  above,  and 
there  seems  to  have  been  relatively  little  land  cultivated. 

Pitch,  tar  and  turpentine  were  by  far  the  chief  exports.  In  the 
years  immediately  preceding  the  Revolution,  almost  half  of 
the  American  exportations  of  these  products  were  shipped  from 
the  Cape  Fear.  Almost  this  entire  amount  went  from  Brunswick 
to  England.  In  the  light  of  this  fact  and  the  English  dependence 
on  naval  stores,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  town  was  one  of  the 
strategic  harbors  of  the  British  American  colonies.26 

In  general,  the  lesser  products  were  shipped  in  vessels  that 
could  proceed  to  Wilmington,  and,  undoubtedly,  most  of  them 
did  so.  This  assumption  is  based  on  the  more  central  location 
of  Wilmington  and  the  fact  that  it  was  a  bigger  town  with 
larger  merchants  residing  there. 

The  staple  products  of  the  Cape  Fear  furnished  cash  with 
which  to  buy  goods  produced  elsewhere  and  as  a  result  the 


23  British  Public  Records  Office:  Customs  16:  I.  Photostatic  copy  in  the  files  of  the  Di- 
vision of  Manuscripts,  Library  of  Congress.   (Hereafter  cited  as  B.  P.  R.  O.:  Customs  16:  I.) 

24  William  Logan,  "Journal  of  A  Journey  to  Georgia,  1745."  The  Pennsylvania  Magazine 
of  History  and  Biography,  XXXVI    (1912),  No.  1,  15;  C.  R.,  VIII,  71. 

25  [Lord  Adam  Gordon],  "Journal  of  an  Officer's  Travels  in  America  and  the  West  Indies, 
1764-1765,"  Travels  in  the  American  Colonies,  edited  by  Newton  D.  Mereness  (New  York: 
The  Macmillan  Company,  1916),  401;  B.  P.  R.  O.:  Customs  16:  I. 

26  B.  P.  R.  O.:  Customs  16:  I. 


236  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Cape  Fear  always  depended  on  the  outside  world  for  such  goods 
as  cloth,  clothing,  furniture,  household  utensils,  hardware,  gun- 
powder and  shot,  stationery,  medical  supplies,  glass,  spices,  salt, 
tobacco,  beer,  rum,  various  foods,  and  numerous  other  things 
which  served  to  make  the  lives  of  the  people  more  complete  and 
enjoyable.  Even  hay  for  livestock  was  brought  in  in  sizable 
quantities.27  The  lack  of  domestic  manufacturing  with  its  at- 
tendant labor  population,  retarded  the  growth  of  Brunswick  and 
of  Wilmington  as  well.  This,  together  with  the  sparse  country 
population,  due  to  the  presence  of  large  plantations,  prevented 
the  development  of  a  commercial  center  on  the  lower  Cape  Fear 
capable  of  attracting  the  trade  of  interior  North  Carolina. 
Charleston,  with  its  more  favorable  prices  and  better  selections 
of  merchandise,28  assumed  the  role  that  Brunswick  and  Wilming- 
ton should  have  had  in  the  colonial  period,  and  that  Wilmington 
might  have  had  in  later  years. 

A  significant  factor  in  the  lives  of  the  people  of  Brunswick, 
and  particularly  of  the  mariners  who  shipped  out  of  that  port, 
was  an  ever-present  fear  of  the  Spaniards.  A  trade  rivalry  had 
long  existed  between  Spain  and  England,  and  each  nation  made 
frequent  attacks  on  the  trade  lines  of  the  other.  This  activity 
was  concentrated  in  West  Indian  waters,  but  the  possibility  of 
attack  by  a  strong  Spanish  garrison  stationed  at  St.  Augustine 
was  a  constant  source  of  concern  to  all  the  southern  colonies.29 

This  rivalry  culminated  in  1739  with  the  outbreak  of  the 
War  of  Jenkins*  Ear,  and  until  the  end  of  the  conflict  in  1748, 
the  activities  of  both  belligerents  were  greatly  increased.  Naval 
stores  were  among  the  English  colonial  products  most  highly 
prized  by  the  Spaniards,  and  because  of  this  the  shipping  of 
Brunswick  suffered  to  a  considerable  extent.30 

The  war  was  brought  home  to  the  people  of  the  town  on 
September  4,  1748,  when  two  Spanish  privateers  with  blazing 
guns  appeared  before  the  town.  Four  days  later  the  enemy  was 
finally  driven  away,  but  only  after  great  property  damage  had 


27  Brunswick  Port  Records,  1767-1775,  kept  by  William  Dry,  collector,  typewritten  manu- 
script in  the  Library  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  from  the  original  in  the  archives 
of  the  North  Carolina  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History. 

28  Adelaide  L.  Fries  (ed.),  Records  of  the  Moravians  in  North  Carolina,  1752-1822  (Raleigh: 
North  Carolina  Historical  Commission,  1922-1930,  1941-1943;  North  Carolina  State  Depart- 
ment of  Archives  and  History,  1947),  I,  366,  377. 

20  Virginia  Gazette  (Williamsburg),  September  24,  1736;  December  31,  1736;  March  4,  11,  18, 
1737;  April  22,  1737;  August  19,  1737;  March  18,  1738;  June  6,  1738.  C.  R.,  Ill,  362-363. 
30  South  Carolina  Gazette    ( Charlestown ) ,  October  3,  1741;  March  20,  1742. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       237 

been  done.  During  this  raid  a  mysterious  explosion  destroyed  one 
of  the  privateers  and  this  fortunate  incident  must  be  listed  with 
the  courage  of  the  defenders  as  the  reasons  for  the  successful 
expulsion  of  the  Spaniards.31  This  raid  emphasized  the  exposed 
position  of  the  town,  and  doubtless  retarded  its  later  growth. 

Fort  Johnston  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  under  construction 
at  the  time,  offered  some  future  security,  but  the  fear  of  the 
Spaniards  continued  as  long  as  Brunswick  existed.32 

According  to  local  tradition  the  painting,  Ecce  Homo,  hanging 
in  the  Vestry  Room  of  St.  James's  Church  in  Wilmington,  was 
among  the  objects  of  value  obtained  from  the  Spaniards  as  a 
result  of  their  attack.  Of  greater  significance  is  the  fact  that  a 
portion  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  slaves  and  other  goods 
obtained  at  the  same  time  was  used  to  complete  the  construction 
of  St.  Philip's  Church  in  Brunswick,  as  well  as  St.  James's 
Church.33 

Religion  came  to  Brunswick  with  the  earliest  settlers.  John 
Lapierre,  who  arrived  in  the  new  settlement  during  the  winter  of 
1727-1728,  was  the  first  of  an  almost  continuous  line  of  Anglican 
ministers  who  served  the  people  of  the  town.34  This  was  the  only 
communion  that  was  ever  active  there.  Though  encouraged  by 
sympathetic  governors,  these  men  of  God  were  often  faced  with 
physical  and  economic  hardships,  and,  worst  of  all,  the  religious 
apathy  of  a  large  segment  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
worked.35  The  walls  of  old  St.  Philip's  Church  stand  today  as  a 
monument  to  the  labor  of  these  zealous  men. 

Though  James  Murray,  a  resident,  mentioned  a  chapel  as 
being  in  Brunswick  in  1736,36  apparently  the  first  permanent 
place  of  worship  did  not  exist  until  the  winter  of  1744-1745. 
This  was  a  small  frame  chapel,  sixteen  by  twenty-four  feet, 
which  was  used  for  divine  services  on  Sundays  and  as  a  school 
during  the  week.  The  garret  provided  living  quarters  for  the 
minister.  This  structure  continued  in  use  until  the  completion  of 
St.  Philip's  Church  in  1768.37 

On  Whit  Tuesday,  1768,  St.  Philip's  was  dedicated  in  a  solemn 


31  South  Carolina  Gazette    ( Charlestown ) ,   October  31,   1748. 
82  Fries,  Records  of  the  Moravians  in  North  Carolina,  I,  259. 
33  S.  R.,  XXIII,  537. 
«*  C.  R.,  Ill,  391,  530,  623-624. 

35  C.  R.,  Ill,  530,  623-624;  IV,  227,  621,  755,  791;  VI,  730. 

36  Tiffany,  Letters  of  James  Murray,  Loyalist,  26. 
87  C.  R.  IV,  605,  755;  VI,  557,  730. 


238  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

ceremony  conducted  by  its  rector,  John  Barnett,  assisted  by  the 
Reverend  John  Wills  of  St.  James's  Church  in  Wilmington.38  The 
completion  of  this  church  was  the  culmination  of  an  effort  ex- 
tending back  more  than  a  decade.  It  was  an  ambitious  project 
and  was  built  at  a  great  cost.  In  addition  to  funds  derived  from 
the  Spanish  spoils  it  was  financed  by  private  subscription  and  by 
lottery.  More  than  once  work  on  the  structure  was  stopped  until 
additional  money  could  be  raised.39 

Both  governors  Dobbs  and  Tryon  encouraged  the  construction 
of  St.  Philip's,  often  when  the  outlook  seemed  darkest.  Dobbs 
expressed  his  intention  of  making  it  the  King's  Chapel  in  North 
Carolina  upon  its  completion  and  to  donate  to  it  the  pulpit,  Bible, 
Books  of  Common  Prayer,  and  a  special  pew  to  be  used  by  the 
governor  and  his  council.  In  addition  he  was  to  furnish  the 
Communion  plate  which  he  had  been  granted  upon  his  appoint- 
ment to  office.40  Unfortunately  Dobbs  died  before  the  construc- 
tion work  was  finished,  and  on  March  29,  1765,  his  remains  were 
interred  in  the  incompleted  structure.41  Tryon  not  only  con- 
tributed cash,  but  also  furnished  the  windows  complete  with 
glass.42  This  latter  donation  stimulated  the  final  work  on  the 
church. 

St.  Philip's  as  completed  was  approximately  fifty-five  feet 
wide  and  seventy-seven  feet  deep  with  walls  almost  three  feet 
thick.  The  roof  was  crowned  with  a  small  belfry,  but  other  than 
this  the  exterior  lines  were  very  severe.  The  interior,  with  its 
arched  ceiling,  was  provided  with  the  customary  furnishings  of 
an  Anglican  Church.  The  building  was  described  by  Governor 
Dobbs  as  the  largest  church  in  the  province,  and  undoubtedly  it 
was  one  of  the  fine  churches  of  colonial  America.48 

As  might  be  expected  the  town  of  Brunswick  developed  in 
close  proximity  to  its  church.  As  early  as  June,  1726,  Maurice 
Moore  had  completed  the  drawing  of  the  plan  of  the  town,  and 
in  1745  the  General  Assembly  directed  that  another  be  pre- 
pared.44 Unfortunately  neither  of  these  plans  has  been  located. 
However,  county  records  and  other  sources  provide  information 


38  C.  R.f  VII,  789. 

ss  C.  R.,  VI,  32-33,  103;  S.  R.,  XXIII,  535-537;  XXV,  391-392. 

»  C.  R.,  VI,  235,  237. 

41  South  Carolina  Gazette    (Charlestown) ,  April  27,   1765. 

42  C.  R.,  VII,  164,  515. 
™C.  R.,  VI,  235;  VII,  515. 

44  S.  R.,  XXIII,  239,  240.  New  Hanover  County  Registry  Records,  AB,  71. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       239 

which,  to  some  extent,  fills  this  deficiency.  A  plan  based  on  these 
fragmentary  sources  correlates  very  closely  with  the  map  of  the 
town  drawn  in  1769  by  C.  J.  Sauthier.45 

As  the  site  of  the  town  Maurice  Moore  set  aside  360  acres.  A 
portion  of  this  area  was  laid  out  in  half-acre  lots  and  specific 
areas  were  reserved  for  a  church,  cemetery,  market  place,  court- 
house and  other  public  buildings.46  The  original  plan  apparently 
contained  336  lots  which,  with  the  streets,  would  have  occupied 
only  about  half  the  allocated  acreage.  These  lots  were  82%  feet 
wide  and  264  feet  in  depth.  The  city  squares  were  seven  lots 
across  and  two  lots  deep.  There  were  twenty-four  blocks  in  all; 
six  along  the  river  and  four  deep.  In  later  years  an  additional 
square  was  laid  off  along  the  river  to  the  north  and  possibly 
another  to  the  west  of  this.  The  squares  were  separated  by 
streets.  Some  of  these  ran  north  and  south  and  were  connected 
by  others  running  east  and  west.  About  150  to  200  feet  from  the 
river  the  first  street  of  the  town,  known  as  the  Street  on  the  Bay 
or  Front  Street,  ran  parallel  with  the  stream.  The  property  be- 
tween this  street  and  the  water  generally  was  transferred  with 
the  lot  that  it  fronted.  All  other  streets  of  the  town  ran  parallel 
or  at  right  angles  to  the  Street  on  the  Bay.  The  next  street  to  the 
west  was  known  as  Second  Street,  but  otherwise  the  names  of 
the  streets  are  not  known. 

The  scope  of  the  town  development  was  never  in  keeping  with 
these  optimistic  plans.  In  the  early  years  lots  were  sold  along  the 
entire  waterfront  as  well  as  some  interior  lots  chiefly  within  the 
first  two  tiers  of  blocks.  As  the  years  passed,  however,  the  town 
became  concentrated  in  the  upper  four  squares  along  the  river. 
The  church  was  on  the  west  side  of  Second  Street  just  outside 
this  area,  and  about  midway  between  its  northern  and  southern 
limits.  The  courthouse  and  jail  occupied  corner  lots  diagonally 
across  from  the  church.  With  a  few  scattered  exceptions  the  other 
buildings  of  the  town  were  located  between  the  church  and  the 
river. 

The  streets  of  Brunswick  were  unpaved  and  did  not  always 
conform  to  the  neat  pattern  planned  for  them.  This  gave  the 
village  a  more  irregular  appearance  than  it  would  have  had 


45  C.  J.   Sauthier,  Plan  of  the  Town  and  Port  of  Brunswick,   in   Brunswick   County,   North 
Carolina,  surveyed  and  drawn  in  April,  1769    (printed,  not  published). 
«S.  R.,  XXIII,  239. 


240  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

otherwise.47  Shade  trees  on  the  streets  and  in  the  yards  and 
attractive  fences  around  many  of  the  homes  provided  a  pic- 
turesque atmosphere. 

Unfortunately  little  is  known  of  the  buildings  of  Brunswick. 
There  always  existed  a  requirement  that  the  houses  be  a  mini- 
mum of  sixteen  feet  wide  by  twenty  feet  deep.48  This  regulation 
seems  to  have  been  enforced,  though  many  of  the  houses  appear 
not  to  have  exceeded  this  minimum  to  any  great  extent.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  were  several  large  homes  with  elaborate  gar- 
dens. While  most  of  the  buildings  of  the  town  were  residences, 
there  were  also  at  least  one  tavern,  a  number  of  stores,  and  ware- 
houses, as  well  as  the  church,  courthouse,  and  jail.49  It  is  not  clear 
how  many  houses  were  frame  and  how  many  were  brick,  but 
there  were  some  of  both.  We  know  the  church  was  brick,  but  the 
earlier  chapel  was  frame.  The  fact  that  the  courthouse  was  blown 
down  by  a  storm  in  1769  indicates  that  it  was  of  frame  construc- 
tion.50 When  the  home  of  William  Dry  was  burned,  the  shell  re- 
mained standing  and  this  indicates  that  it  probably  was  built  of 
brick.51  These  fragmentary  bits  of  evidence,  however,  tell  us  too 
little  of  the  physical  aspects  of  the  town. 

Population  figures  for  the  town  are  almost  non-existent.  In 
1731  Hugh  Meredith,  a  visitor,  reported  that  Brunswick  con- 
tained "not  above  10  or  12  scattering  mean  Houses,"52  and  in 
1754  Governor  Dobbs  wrote  that  twenty  families  lived  there.53 
At  the  same  time  he  said  Wilmington  had  seventy  families.54 
If  his  figures  are  not  exact,  they  at  least  reflect  the  relative  size 
of  the  two  towns.  In  1773  J.  F.  D.  Smyth,  another  traveller,  re- 
ported fifty  to  sixty  houses,  but  his  figure  undoubtedly  included 
non-residential  buildings.55  Sauthier's  map  of  1769  indicates 
there  were  about  thirty-five  residential  buildings.  These  scat- 
tered figures  indicate  that  Brunswick,  in  the  years  just  prior  to 
the  Revolution,  contained  about  200  white  persons  and  possibly 
fifty  colored  persons,  or  a  total  population  of  about  250  people. 

As  the  residents  of  a  shipping  and  trading  center,  the  people 
of  Brunswick  were  predominantly  engaged,  directly  or  indirectly, 


47  Andrews,  Journal  of  A  Lady  of  Quality,  145. 

«S.  R.,  XXIII,  241;  New  Hanover  County  Registry  Records,  AB,  71. 

49  Logan,   "Journal  of  A  Journey  to  Georgia,"  14;   C.  R.,  IV,   755;  IX,   1239. 

50  C.  R.,  VIII,  71. 

51  Virginia  Gazette    (Williamsburg),  April  5,  1776. 

52  Meredith,  An  Account  of  the  Cape  Fear  Country,  14-15. 
™C.  R.,  V,  158. 

5*  C.  R.,  V,  158. 

65  J.  F.  D.  Smyth,  A  Tour  in  the  United  States  of  America   (Dublin,  1784),  55. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       241 

in  those  trades.  But  other  people  lived  there.  Most  of  these  ran 
business  establishments  or  gained  a  livelihood  through  the  sale 
of  their  services.  A  few  others,  like  Edward  Moseley,  the  eminent 
provincial  leader  who  spent  his  last  years  there,  probably  were 
motivated  by  nothing  more  than  a  desire  to  reside  in  the  village. 

Among  the  early  settlers  were  Dr.  James  Fergus,  surgeon; 
Cornelius  Harnett,  James  Espey,  Hugh  Blenning,  and  William 
Lord,  tavern-keepers ;  John  Wright,  John  Porter,  Richard  Quince, 
and  William  Dry,  Sr.,  merchants ;  John  McDowell  and  Edward 
Scott,  sea  captains;  Thomas  Brown  and  Edward  Jones,  carpen- 
ters; Richard  Price,  brickmaker;  William  Norton,  blockmaker; 
Donald  McKichan,  tailor;  and  Hugh  Campbell,  clerk  of  court. 
A  cross  section  of  the  population  in  later  years  reveals  the  same 
general  make  up.  Among  the  residents  at  that  time  were  William 
Gibson,  Jonathan  Caulkin,  and  Thomas  Dick,  house  carpenters; 
David  Smeeth,  ship's  carpenter;  Christopher  Cains,  blacksmith; 
John  Cains,  shoemaker;  Alexander  McKitchan,  tailor;  Chris- 
topher Wotten,  sail  maker;  James  Mcllhenny,  tavern  keeper; 
Stephen  Parker  Newman,  Revell  Munro,  and  Thomas  Mulford, 
sea  captains;  William  Dry,  Jr.,  and  William  Hill,  port  officials 
as  well  as  merchants ;  and  John  Fergus,  physician.56 

By  far  the  most  distinguished  residents  were  governors  Dobbs 
and  Tryon,  though  strictly  speaking  their  residence,  Russellboro, 
was  not  within  the  limits  of  the  town  but  adjoined  it  to  the  north. 
Dobbs,  who  followed  Johnston  as  governor,  acquired  the  property 
in  1758  and  lived  there  until  his  death  seven  years  later.  Tryon 
purchased  the  property  from  Dobbs's  son  and  resided  there  until 
he  moved  into  the  Palace  at  New  Bern  in  1770.  It  then  became  the 
home  of  William  Dry,  who  changed  its  name  to  Bellfont.57 

While  the  permanent  residents  of  Brunswick  appear  to  have 
formed  a  population  essentially  quiet  and  respectable,  there  was 
a  lustier  element  in  the  life  of  the  town.  Much  of  the  goods  ship- 
ped out  of  Brunswick  was  brought  down  the  river  on  rafts.  The 
raftsmen  were  a  vigorous  group  who  worked  hard  and  played 
hard.  When  these  men  joined  the  sailors  from  the  vessels  in  the 
harbor  the  village  no  doubt  resounded  to  the  noise  of  their  merry- 
making. We  can  be  sure  that  they  consumed  their  share  of 


56  New   Hanover   County   Registry    Records,    passim;    Brunswick    County   Registry    Records, 
passim. 

57  New   Hanover    County    Registry    Records,    D,    327;    E,    309;    Brunswick    County    Registry 
Records,  D,  85. 


242  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  large  quantities  of  rum  imported  and  were  at  least  part  of  the 
reason  why  James  Moir,  the  Anglican  minister,  described  the 
taverns  of  the  town  as  the  worst  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  in  more 
ways  than  one.  In  time  specific  laws  were  passed  designed  to 
moderate  this  particular  phase  of  the  life  of  the  community.58 

Probably  the  most  widely  publicized  event  in  the  history  of 
Brunswick  took  place  during  Tryon's  residence  there.  This  was 
in  connection  with  the  Stamp  Act  imposed  by  the  English  Parlia- 
ment upon  the  American  colonies.  The  passing  of  this  act  resulted 
in  protestations  throughout  the  provinces.  The  resistance  of  the 
Cape  Fear  people  began  with  several  riots  in  Wilmington  in  the 
fall  of  1765  and  was  climaxed  the  following  February  in  Bruns- 
wick with  armed  resistance  to  the  royal  governor.  The  immediate 
cause  of  this  action  was  the  seizure  of  several  vessels  for  viola- 
tion of  the  act  and  their  detention  at  Brunswick.  Armed  men 
from  throughout  the  section  gathered  there,  specifically  to  effect 
the  release  of  the  vessels,  and  more  generally  to  bring  the  opera- 
tion of  the  hated  law  to  an  end.  They  stationed  a  guard  around 
the  governor's  home,  against  his  wishes,  which,  in  effect,  placed 
him  under  house  arrest.  Some  time  later  they  threatened  force- 
ful entry  into  the  home  if  Pennington,  the  comptroller  of  the 
Customs,  who  was  there,  continued  to  refuse  to  appear  before 
their  group.  Under  these  circumstances  the  comptroller  agreed 
to  do  their  bidding,  but  only  after  Tryon  had  insisted  upon  and 
received  his  resignation.  He  then  proceeded  with  the  group  to 
Brunswick  to  join  the  main  body  which  numbered  about  1,000 
men.  There  the  demonstrators  formed  a  large  circle  and  in  the 
center  placed  Pennington  along  with  the  collector  of  customs  and 
the  naval  officer.  These  three  men  were  then  required  to  take  an 
oath  that  they  would  never  enforce  the  Stamp  Act.  Immediately 
thereafter  the  commander  of  the  English  naval  forces  in  the 
river  released  the  seized  vessels.  Having  accomplished  their 
mission,  the  men  dispersed  to  their  homes.  With  this  the  tension 
was  released,  but  revolution  had  already  cast  its  shadow  over 
Brunswick.59 

In  the  series  of  events  that  led  to  independence  from  England 
the  activities  in  Brunswick  followed  the  general  pattern  of  the 
rest  of  America.  The  supplies  sent  from  the  Cape  Fear  in  1774 


58  C.  R.    IV    755;  S.  R.    XXIII    239-243 

™  Virginia  Gazette  '(Williamsburg) ,  March  21,   1766;   C.  R.,  VII,   123-125,   127,   169-186. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       243 

to  the  aid  of  the  beleaguered  people  of  Boston  following  their 
"Tea  Party"  was  but  a  single  indication  of  sympathy  with  the 
trend  of  events.  These  supplies  were  shipped  in  a  vessel  furnished 
free  of  charge  by  a  merchant  of  Brunswick.60  The  application  of 
the  various  restrictions  on  British  trade  was  a  further  reflection 
of  this  feeling.  The  people  of  Brunswick  cooperated  closely  with 
those  of  Wilmington  and  of  the  nearby  counties  in  determining 
the  course  of  action  followed.61 

When  Governor  Martin,  who  had  succeeded  Tryon,  fled  from 
New  Bern  and  arrived  at  Fort  Johnston  on  June  2,  1775,  Bruns- 
wick was  thrown  into  the  maelstrom  of  war.  Martin  began  an 
active  campaign  to  frustrate  the  efforts  of  the  rebellious  element 
in  the  colony,  and  to  rally  the  loyal  element  around  him.  The 
following  spring  he  was  joined  by  the  British  generals,  Clinton 
and  Cornwallis,  who  came  expecting  to  join  the  Loyalists  in  a 
move  to  subjugate  North  Carolina  as  well  as  the  other  southern 
colonies.  The  contemporary  press  reported  that,  in  part,  at  least, 
this  plan  was  designed  to  secure  the  lower  Cape  Fear  as  a  source 
of  naval  stores  for  the  fleet  at  Halifax,  and  the  upper  Cape 
Fear  as  a  source  of  provisions  for  the  British  troops  to  the 
northward.62  But  upon  their  arrival  in  the  Cape  Fear  the  two 
generals  learned  that  their  dreams  of  easy  conquest  had  been 
ended  on  February  27,  1776,  by  the  American  victory  over  the 
Loyalists  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge.  In  late  May,  1776,  the 
British  sailed  southward  to  Charleston  with  hopes  of  more  suc- 
cessful activity. 

The  period  in  which  the  British  were  in  the  river  was  a  fateful 
year  for  the  town  of  Brunswick.  At  various  times  during  this 
period  local  troops  were  placed  in  or  near  the  village  for  its 
defense.  At  other  times  it  was  neglected.  It  had  been  the  target 
of  threats  of  destruction  and  of  actual  raids. 

An  example  of  these  raids,  though  it  did  not  occur  within  the 
actual  limits  of  the  town,  was  staged  in  the  early  morning  hours 
of  May  10,  1776.  About  900  of  the  men  of  Cornwallis  and  Clinton 
slipped  up  the  river  under  cover  of  darkness,  passed  Brunswick, 
and  landed  at  the  plantation  of  General  Robert  Howe,  a  short 
distance  upstream.  They  beat  back  the  American  guards  from 


60  Virginia  Gazette    (Williamsburg),    September   1,    1774. 

61  South  Carolina  Gazette    (Charleston),   August   13,   1770;   April   3,   1775. 

62  Virginia  Gazette    (Williamsburg),   October   11,   1776. 


244  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  bank  of  the  river  and  proceeded  to  an  American  post  on  the 
Charles  Town  Road  a  little  north  of  the  town.  Finding  that  the 
American  forces  of  about  100  men  had  fled  before  them,  they 
burned  the  post,  a  mill,  and  returned  to  their  ships  down  river. 
This  attack  in  itself  had  slight  significance,  and  probably  was 
little  more  than  a  military  exercise  for  the  British.63 

Finally,  under  these  conditions  Brunswick  was  abandoned  by 
its  people,  and  English  pillaging  parties  roamed  its  empty 
streets.  At  least  part  of  the  town  was  burned  by  the  enemy,  and 
among  the  residences  destroyed  was  that  of  William  Dry,  the 
old  home  of  Dobbs  and  Tryon.64  Even  after  the  English  left  it 
was  still  exposed  to  enemy  attack,  and  because  of  this  it  held 
little  attraction  for  other  than  a  very  few  of  its  former  in- 
habitants.65 

Many  of  the  people  of  Brunswick  sought  the  comparative 
safety  of  Wilmington.  These  included  William  Hill,  Dr.  John 
Fergus,  Capt.  Stephen  Parker  Newman,  and  others.  William  Dry 
moved  to  his  up-river  plantation,  Blue  Banks.  Some,  like  Richard 
Quince,  lay  buried  in  their  graves. 

With  the  loss  of  its  population  the  complete  disintegration  of 
the  town  followed.  The  state  constitution  of  1776  took  away  the 
right  of  representation,66  and  in  the  same  year  the  office  of  cus- 
toms collector  was  transferred  to  Wilmington.67  In  1779  the 
political  dissolution  was  completed  with  the  removal  of  the 
county  seat  to  a  more  secure  location  at  Lockwood's  Folly.68  In 
later  years  we  get  an  occasional  glimpse  of  the  old  town  through 
the  eyes  of  passing  travellers.  Johann  Schoepf  in  the  early  1780,s 
reported  it  as  almost  totally  demolished  and  abandoned.69  A  few 
years  later  Robert  Hunter  wrote  that  the  town  had  been  partly 
destroyed  by  the  British  during  the  war,  but  many  believed  that 
they  had  been  assisted  by  the  slaves  from  the  nearby  plantation 
of  General  Robert  Howe.  He  added  that  "only  the  ruins,  with 
two  or  three  houses  that  have  been  since  built,  are  now  to  be 


63  Virginia  Gazette  (Williamsburg),  June  29,  1776;  Connecticut  Courant  (Hartford),  June 
17,   1776. 

64  Virginia  Gazette    (Williamsburg),   April   5,    1776. 

65  Virginia  Gazette  (Williamsburg),  March  22,  1776;  April  5,  1776;  Winslow  C.  Watson  (ed.), 
Men  and  Times  of  the  Revolution;  or  Memoirs  of  Elkanah  Watson  (New  York:  Dana  and 
Company,  1856),  41. 

68  S.  R.,  XXIII,  980. 
67  S.  R.,  XXIII,  987-988. 
os  S.  R.,  XXIV,  248-249,   631-632. 

09  Johann  D.  Schoepf,  Travels  in  the  Confederation  [1783-17841,  edited  and  translated  by 
Alfred  J.  Morrison    (Philadelphia:   William  J.  Campbell,  1911),  II,  145. 


Old  Brunswick,  the  Story  of  a  Colonial  Town       245 

seen."70  Bishop  Francis  Asbury,  writing  in  1804,  gives  us  a  later 
view  by  describing  the  once  thriving  village  as  "an  old  town; 
demolished  houses,  and  the  noble  walls  of  a  brick  church :  there 
remain  but  four  houses  entire."71  Even  so,  county  records  reflect 
occasional  transfers  of  lots  in  the  village  as  late  as  1819.72  But 
the  incorporation  of  the  site  of  the  town  into  Orton  Plantation  by 
a  state  land  grant  dated  1845  marks  the  final  and  complete  pass- 
ing of  the  town.  The  price  paid  to  the  state  was  $4.25.73 

Brunswick  ceased  to  exist  because  the  principal  reason  for  its 
being  ceased  to  exist.  The  war  brought  the  end  of  the  British 
market  for  naval  stores,  and  after  the  conflict  the  shipping  out 
of  the  Cape  Fear  was  chiefly  coastal,  and  this  trade  could  be, 
and  was,  handled  through  the  harbor  facilities  of  Wilmington. 
By  the  time  the  region  regained  a  dominant  role  in  the  naval 
stores  industry,  Brunswick  was  but  a  memory. 

It  is  obvious  from  this  paper  that  there  are  many  things  not 
known  about  the  town  of  Brunswick.  This  is  especially  true  of 
its  physical  aspects.  Some  of  these  gaps  might  be  filled  by  later 
documentation ;  others  only  by  archaeological  investigation. 
Brunswick  is  an  ideal  location  for  a  project  of  this  nature.  It 
has  not  been  occupied  to  any  significant  extent  since  the  time  it 
was  a  thriving  colonial  seaport.  Today  it  is  covered  with  wild 
growth  and  surface  deposits  accumulated  over  a  period  of  almost 
two  centuries.  Excavation  under  this  surface  would  yield  several 
interesting  results.  It  would  reveal  the  form  and  layout  of  a 
colonial  village  unadulterated  by  later  occupancy;  foundations 
would  reveal  much  about  the  architecture  of  the  buildings,  and 
of  the  nature  of  their  construction ;  artifacts  would  tell  us  much 
of  the  everyday  lives  of  the  people.  These  findings,  viewed  as  the 
remains  of  a  type  rather  than  of  a  single,  isolated  community, 
would  have  more  than  local  significance.  Brunswick  could  well 
be  the  North  Carolina  counterpart  of  the  Jamestown  excava- 
tions. 


70  Robert  Hunter,  Jr.,  Quebec  to  Carolina  In  1785-1786;  Being  the  Travel  Diary  and  Ob- 
servations of  Robert  Hunter,  Jr.,  A  Young  Merchant  of  London,  edited  by  Louis  B.  Wright 
and  Marion  Tinling   (San  Marino,  Cal.:  The  Huntington  Library,  1943),  287. 

71  Francis  Asbury,  The  Journal  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Asbury,  Bishop  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  From  August  7,  1771,  to  December  7,  1815  (New  York:  N.  Bangs  and  T. 
Mason,  1821),  III,  130. 

72  Brunswick  County  Registry  Records,  H,  428. 

73  North  Carolina  Land  Grants,  CL,  150. 


NORTH  CAROLINA  NON-FICTION  WORKS  FOR  1951 
By  Frontis  W.  Johnston 

Once  upon  a  time,  long,  long  ago,  I  learned  how  to  reduce  frac- 
tions to  the  lowest  common  denominator.  My  mathematical  edu- 
cation must  have  been  tragically  incomplete,  for  I  never  was 
taught  how  to  reduce  eighteen  varied  volumes  to  even  a  sem- 
blance of  similitude.  I  am,  even  now,  aware  of  no  formula  which 
will  enable  me  to  simplify  prunes  and  plums — and  we  have  some 
of  each — into  a  reasonably  orderly  equation.  The  failure  of 
mathematics  to  provide  a  neat  and  unified  solution  to  our  query 
means  that  we  are  still  left  with  eighteen  problems  to  solve,  in- 
stead of  one.  So  be  it,  for  we  cannot  quarrel  with  statistics. 

A  bit  of  casual  research  has  shown  me  that  each  of  my  recent 
predecessors  in  this  spot  on  your  annual  program  has  testified 
to  the  difficulty  of  the  assignment  before  him.  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  a  measure  of  mathematical  efficiency  has  operated  to 
subtract  the  fiction  from  the  competition  this  year,  I  would  like 
to  join  their  ranks  and  make  the  testimony  unanimous.  The  only 
unity  these  volumes  before  us  can  possibly  have  is  the  only  one 
they  need  in  order  to  be  before  us :  each  was  written  by  a  North 
Carolinian  and  now  contends  for  the  Mayflower  Cup  Award.  The 
fact  that  five  come  from  residents  of  Raleigh,  five  from  Durham, 
two  from  Chapel  Hill  and  two  from  Greensboro,  whereas  the 
remaining  four  are  from  the  hinterlands,  reveals  only  a  geo- 
graphic, not  a  literary,  kinship.  Some  are  published  by  national 
presses,  some  by  university  presses,  and  others  by  private  print- 
ers. The  fact  that  the  fields  of  religion,  history,  literary  criticism, 
economics,  and  autobiography  dominate  is  both  accidental  and 
incidental.  We  may  make  what  we  will  of  such  features,  but  the 
only  meaning  we  may  safely  assume  is — to  return  to  mathe- 
matics— that  the  whole  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  its  parts.  Since  we 
have  not  solved  the  sum  it  is  time  we  turned  to  the  parts. 

Religion,  I  suppose,  should  come  first,  even  with  a  historian. 
Since  it  makes  little  difference  where  we  begin,  we  shall  reach 
in  a  thumb  and  pull  out  a  plum  called  God  Makes  A  Difference  by 
Dr.  Edwin  McNeill  Poteat.  Here  is  an  effort  to  draw  up  a  treaty 
of  peace  between  science  and  theology  now  that  their  long  and 
fruitless  warfare  is  over — a  war  which  should  never  have  been 

[246] 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       247 

declared.  It  suggests  that  the  quest  for  truth  should  become  a 
partnership,  not  a  conflict ;  that  "if  to  the  scientist  the  fact  has 
been  his  faith,  to  the  religionist  the  faith  has  been  his  fact."  The 
purpose  of  this  book  is  to  bring  faith  and  fact  together,  at  least 
in  inquiry,  if  not  in  agreement.  The  book  is  an  eloquent  and 
learned  plea  for  unity  of  search,  believing  that  science,  however 
correct  its  findings  may  have  been,  cannot  encompass  the  totality 
of  experience.  The  method  of  reconciliation  proposed  is  not  so 
much  of  eradicating  the  differences  as  of  identifying  the  similari- 
ties. It  contends  that  if  "nature  never  did  betray  the  heart  that 
loved  her/'  neither  did  God. 

Dr.  Poteat  argues  that  both  science  and  religion  are  based  on 
hypotheses,  or  inventions,  and  that  the  invention  of  the  idea  of 
God  is  most  inclusive  for  meaning  in  our  world.  God  is  the  grand 
hypothesis  of  theistic  faith,  for  "faith  is  the  posture  of  the  soul 
poised  on  hypothesis."  Add  this  idea  of  God  to  the  hypotheses  of 
naturalism,  and  it  makes  a  difference  in  our  understanding  of 
nature,  of  God  himself,  of  history,  and  of  man.  The  author  shows 
how  this  difference  will  color  our  thinking  and  extend  the  areas 
in  which  good  will  and  intelligence  can  meet.  It  will  allow  us  to 
break  out  of  closed  systems  of  thought  which,  though  they  give 
satisfactions  because  of  their  neatness,  may  become  cells  of  a 
prison  which  incarcerates  the  human  spirit.  Against  this  back- 
ground Dr.  Poteat  discusses  the  idea  of  God  in  relationships 
which  conventional  theology  does  not  employ:  in  home,  school, 
society,  court,  market  place;  in  love,  law,  pain,  and  death,  as 
well  as  in  redemption  and  immortality.  Through  the  use  of  scien- 
tific discovery,  Biblical  interpretation,  and  classical  philosophy 
there  is  constructed  a  bridge  across  which  naturalism  and  theism 
may  walk  freely  together.  Nowhere  in  this  learned  discourse  is 
this  mutuality  more  ably  argued  than  in  that  chapter  on  that 
knotty  subject — to  a  rationalist  at  least — of  immortality.  If 
nuclear  physics,  in  its  concept  of  energy,  gives  us  a  sort  of  im- 
mortality that  can  be  empirically  established,  it  suggests  also  a 
convergence  of  scientific  explanation  and  traditional  thought 
forms  that  have  so  long  contained  the  essence  of  religious  faith. 

This  volume  is  not  for  bedtime  reading.  One  cannot  relax  and 
read  it  too.  The  result  of  wide  reading  and  deep  thinking,  it  is 
written  by  a  master  of  language  who  always  finds  the  right  word. 


248  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

He  gets  at  the  essence  of  his  idea  with  clarity,  but  also  with 
charm  and  whimsy,  as  witness  his  discussion  of  the  word  com- 
munity, or  his  probing  into  the  real  meaning  of  Judas.  I  do  not 
know  the  personal  habits  of  Dr.  Poteat,  but  I  do  know  that  in  his 
study  of  the  "faith  of  nature  and  the  nature  of  faith,"  his  brain 
has  not  been  his  least-used  muscle. 

Speculative  thought,  such  as  Dr.  Poteat  offers,  has  no  place 
in  Clarence  H.  Brannon's  An  Introduction  to  the  Bible.  This 
archeological  and  historical  analysis  of  the  King  James  version 
comes  to  us  from  Raleigh,  but  from  the  devoted  disciple  and 
biographer  of  the  late  Dr.  Allen  H.  Godbey  of  Duke.  Accepting 
the  theory  of  progressive  revelation,  it  is  a  book-by-book  exami- 
nation based  upon  the  latest  scholarship.  But  scholars  still  quar- 
rel over  much  of  the  Bible,  and  Mr.  Brannon  must  pick  his  way 
with  care.  He  has  ideas  and  conclusions:  David  is  definitely 
debunked;  Elijah  is  a  climatic  failure;  Moses  is  the  great  Old 
Testament  hero;  Jeremiah  was  great,  though  un-Semitic,  and 
cannot  properly  be  called  the  prophet  of  lamentations,  for  surely 
if  he  wept  a  little  he  whined  and  cursed  a  great  deal  more.  Paul 
is,  after  Jesus,  Christendom's  greatest  figure,  though  Jews  will 
disagree  about  both.  On  Judas  the  author  reminds  us  of  Mr. 
Legette  Blythe's  A  Tear  For  Judas,  but  neither  writer  pictures 
the  historical  figure  and  neither  probes  his  ultimate  meaning  like 
Dr.  Poteat.  Jude  is  accepted  as  the  author  of  Hebrews,  following 
Dubarle.  With  Dr.  Torrey  of  Yale,  Mr.  Brannon  seems  to  accept 
the  theory  that  much  of  the  New  Testament  was  written  origin- 
ally in  Aramaic  rather  than  in  Greek.  The  Virgin  Birth  is  dis- 
missed as  unimportant  and  there  is  no  sympathy  for  anyone  who 
would  argue  over  Revelation.  With  many  of  these  conclusions 
other  scholars  will  quarrel.  The  treatment  is  non-theological  and 
non-sectarian,  though  modern  moralizing  about  atomic  bombs 
inevitably  creeps  in.  Though  he  is  a  Presbyterian  elder,  Mr. 
Brannon's  views  on  election  will  not  square  with  those  of  John 
Calvin.  There  is  little  comfort  anywhere  for  the  fundamentalist : 
there  are  doubtless  some  things  for  which  Mr.  Brannon  would  go 
to  the  stake,  but  Adam's  rib  is  not  one  of  them. 

Numerous  books  by  John  Raymond  Shute,  long-time  mayor  of 
Monroe,  North  Carolina,  and  sometime  president  of  the  North 
Carolina  League  of  Municipalities,  have  testified  to  his  varied 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       249 

intellectual  interests.  The  Seer,  like  most  of  the  others,  defies 
neat  classification.  In  part,  it  consists  of  hoary  jokes  dressed  in 
the  dignified  language  of  parable,  but,  like  the  rose,  by  any 
other  name  they  still  smell,  though  not  like  the  rose.  In  the  main, 
however,  we  have  the  reflections  of  a  vigorous  mind  which  has 
broken  with  dogmatic  creeds  and  departed  the  temples  of  child- 
hood to  seek  solace  among  other  gods,  striving  to  live  in  tune  with 
humanity  around  it.  The  book  has  about  it  the  strangeness  of 
familiarity.  Khalil  Gibran's  The  Prophet  comes  to  mind  again 
and  again ;  it  is  perhaps  as  good  a  guess  as  any  as  to  the  inspira- 
tion of  this  strange  medley.  Its  irony  is  poked  at  the  practices  and 
institutions  of  formal  creeds,  but  it  is  often  too  subtle  for  its 
purpose  and  certainly  too  confused  for  clarity.  Amid  the  verbi- 
age of  the  parabolic  method  it  seems  to  say,  though  I  would  not 
be  too  sure  of  it,  that  God  is  a  human  concept  made  to  function 
in  the  mental  pattern  of  man;  that  we  are  all  divine;  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  within  us ;  that  "man  does  not  require  author- 
ity for  his  religion  if  he  makes  religion  his  authority."  This  is  as 
close  as  I  can  come  to  what  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  call 
the  "Monroe  Doctrine." 

As  we  move  from  religion  to  history  each  of  you  may  decide 
for  himself  whether  we  follow  ascending  or  descending  order. 
But,  either  way,  it  seems  appropriate  to  begin  with  a  work 
whose  scope  is  an  entire  hemisphere.  The  pre-Columbian  history 
of  the  Americas  is  being  pieced  together  into  an  impressive 
panorama  by  the  patient  toil  of  learned  anthropologists  and  dili- 
gent archeologists.  In  Americans  Before  Columbus  Elizabeth 
Chesley  Baity  takes  the  learning  and  makes  it  intelligible  to 
the  layman.  Informal  and  conversational  in  tone,  the  writing  is 
dominated  by  the  spirit  of  an  informed  imagination,  restrained 
by  a  respect  for  the  facts  of  the  epic  story.  But  by  means  of  fact 
and  imagination,  and  fifty  pages  of  pictures,  we  are  taken  on  the 
journey  of  those  first  Americans  who,  pushed  south  by  the  cold 
breath  of  the  ice  age,  passed  in  restless  generations  for  twenty 
thousand  years  across  the  face  of  America.  Parts  of  our  jour- 
ney reveal  the  fascinating  ways  in  which  the  remote  past  may 
even  yet  speak  to  him  who  has  eyes  to  hear ;  other  parts  give  us 
glimpses  and  insights  of  fabulous  figures  of  yore,  from  "Minne- 
sota Minnie"  to  the  Incas  of  the  Andean  mountains.  Here  we 


250  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

have  both  a  detective  story  and  a  peep  show,  and  we  become 
grateful  that  earth  kept  a  record  until  man  became  intelligent 
enough  to  read  it. 

It  is  not  only  the  earth  which  has  kept  historical  records — 
men  and  nations  make  them  too.  One  of  these  men  is  Harry  S. 
Truman,  and  one  of  the  nations  is  the  United  States.  Regardless 
of  one's  political  opinions  it  would  be  hard  to  read  Jonathan 
Daniels's  The  Man  of  Independence  without  wondering  whether 
this  is  possibly  what  posterity  will  say  about  Harry  S.  Truman. 
The  study  reveals  a  "typical  American"  who  has  exhibited  no 
evidences  of  imaginative  leadership,  instinctive  wisdom,  or  lofty 
principles,  but  who  nevertheless  mirrors  the  average  American 
in  his  personality,  outlook,  and  experience.  It  is  the  Daniels 
thesis  that  the  color  and  flavor  of  America  is  personified  by 
Truman,  and  his  book  is  therefore  as  much  the  biography  of 
contemporary  America  as  of  its  president,  who  becomes  an  ex- 
ample of  how  the  American  democratic  faith  sustains  itself 
through  the  capacity  of  ordinary  men  to  govern  themselves.  The 
country  may  have  needed  more  than  Truman,  but  it  might  have 
got — or  get — worse. 

This  thesis  makes  for  an  interesting  but  highly  controversial 
book.  We  have  long  known  that  Mr.  Daniels  not  only  has  a  mind 
of  his  own  but,  like  his  father  before  him,  can  speak  it  as  well. 
He  speaks  it  here  in  a  style  which  is  always  distinguished,  fre- 
quently beautiful,  and  sometimes  brilliant.  Written  from  intimate 
knowledge,  and  with  perception  and  sympathy,  the  tone  is  one  of 
admiration  bordering  on  adulation,  and  some  have  thought  it  "so 
cloying  in  its  sweetness  as  to  curdle  honey."  The  pun  in  the  title 
is  evident  throughout.  We  cannot  here  summarize  the  author's 
position  on  the  many  controversial  aspects  of  Truman's  career. 
May  we  say,  however,  that  on  the  subjects  of  Pendergast,  Byrnes, 
Civil  Rights,  the  1944  convention,  and  a  dozen  other  such  ques- 
tions, Jonathan  Daniels  tries  hard  to  be  fair.  Perhaps,  even,  he 
is  fair,  but — try  as  he  may — all  his  adjectives  seem  to  fight  on 
Truman's  side. 

From  the  hemisphere  and  the  nation  a  certain  logical  order 
brings  us  to  the  state,  and  to  our  own  state  of  North  Carolina.  In 
The  Negro  and  Fusion  Politics  in  North  Carolina,  1894-1901, 
Dr.  Helen  G.  Edmonds  has  written  a  competent  monograph  on  a 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       251 

subject  which  has  needed  investigation  for  fifty  years.  Examin- 
ing a  turbulent  and  controversial  period  of  North  Carolina's 
political  history  characterized  by  the  resurgence  of  the  Negro  in 
political  life,  she  has  marshalled  the  irrefutable  evidence  of  facts 
and  figures  to  modify  the  verdict  of  the  more  emotional  and  prej- 
udiced treatments  of  former  years.  She  shows  that  the  number 
of  Negro  office-holders  was  never  large,  and  that  Negro  office- 
holding,  on  any  political  level,  as  an  act  in  itself,  provided  fuel 
for  the  ousted  Democrats  to  raise  the  cry  of  Negro  domination. 
Dr.  Edmonds  is  also  aware  of  the  economic  motives  behind  the 
glare  of  race,  and  she  admits  the  complexities  of  the  period,  but 
her  emphasis  remains  upon  the  racial  issue  in  politics.  Her  con- 
clusions seem  likely  to  meet  the  test  of  historical  examination, 
for  she  has  made  a  thorough  use  of  both  private  and  public 
documentary  material,  and  these  deserve  a  respectful  hearing. 
Essentially  a  sound  work,  the  book  is  undistinguished  in  style, 
and  is  occasionally  marred  by  a  contentious  spirit  which  delights 
in  quoting  from  the  dead,  remarks  which  they  would  now  likely 
be  too  intelligent  to  repeat. 

Logic  would  seem  to  say  that  from  state  history  we  should 
move  to  county  history;  so  we  shall  follow  logic  and  examine 
Essays  on  North  Carolina  History,  by  Clarence  W.  Griffin.  The 
writings  of  Mr.  Griffin  of  Forest  City  are  familiar  to  almost 
every  literate  person  in  North  Carolina  who  has  any  interest  in 
the  history  of  his  state.  These  essays,  gleaned  from  various 
sources,  most  of  them  official,  recall  the  already  familiar  back- 
drop of  the  author's  historical  interest:  old  houses,  old  land- 
marks, and  old  characters  of  Rutherford.  Not  so  solid  or 
scholarly  a  volume  as  his  earlier  The  History  of  Old  Tryon  and 
Rutheniord  Counties,  it  still  affords  us  some  good  descriptions  of 
appurtenances  of  bygone  days,  such  as  water-powered  grist- 
mills and  covered  bridges;  and  we  even  learn  why  Republicans 
live  in  the  mountains. 

While  Rutherford  County  is  again,  as  usual,  Mr.  Griffin's 
special  grazing  ground,  he  allows  himself  occasionally  to  roam 
into  the  outer  pastures  of  the  surrounding  area  for  the  sake  of  a 
few  wild  oats.  The  title  of  the  volume  is  a  bit  pretentious,  for 
most  of  the  essays  are  reprints  from  a  newspaper  column  writ- 
ten in  the  water  of  the  fourth  estate  more  than  two  years  ago. 


252  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Since  these  articles  are  not  necessarily  related  to  one  another  and 
follow  no  chronological — or  any  other  kind  of — order,  one 
wonders  if  their  original  title  might  not  be  the  more  fitting  one : 
"Dropped  Stitches  in  Rutherford  History." 

From  county  to  town  is  an  easy  step,  and  we  move  to  Fayette- 
ville  with  John  A.  Oates.  In  The  Story  of  Fayetteville  and  the 
Upper  Cape  Fear  Mr.  Oates  presents  two  hundred  years  of  local 
history  of  the  most  inclusive  sort  in  a  massive  volume.  It  is  safe 
to  assert  that  virtually  anything  you  wish  to  know  about  Fayette- 
ville, and  a  good  deal  that  you  don't,  is  in  this  tome  of  almost 
nine  hundred  pages.  But  you  probably  cannot  locate  it,  for  the 
organization  is  bad  and  there  is  no  index,  and  it  has  one  chapter 
which  is  four  hundred  pages  in  length.  Yet  the  men  and  women 
of  a  glorious  past  are  made  to  live  again,  and  their  activities  and 
ambitions  in  the  political,  educational,  and  religious  life  of  the 
region  are  developed  in  proper  perspective.  The  result  of  dili- 
gent research,  it  will  prove  a  useful  fountain  of  fact  and  folklore 
about  the  upper  Cape  Fear  region. 

History  can  become  more  local  than  the  town,  for  communi- 
ties develop  institutions  and  these  often  deserve  portrayal.  We 
have  three  samples :  one  of  a  church,  one  of  a  school,  and  one  of  a 
secret  order. 

Biography  of  a  Country  Church  is  by  Garland  A.  Hendricks 
and  is  a  centennial  history  of  Olive  Chapel  Baptist  Church  in 
Wake  County.  Written  by  the  pastor,  it  traces  the  adventures  of 
the  church  from  the  eleven-member  beginning  of  1850  to  its  mem- 
bership of  560  a  century  later.  But  though  we  travel  with  this 
church  for  a  full  hundred  years  we  wonder  if  we  are  ever  taken 
inside.  We  learn,  to  be  sure,  of  its  physical  growth,  its  building 
programs,  and  its  fiscal  progress,  but  there  is  little  or  nothing  of 
its  spiritual  biography  as  a  factor  in  the  life  of  the  community. 
There  are,  it  is  true,  occasional  glimpses  of  the  rural  heritage  at 
work,  and  there  are  interesting  accounts  of  key  personalities, 
such  as  the  "Prophet  of  the  Ridge,"  but  there  is,  by  contrast, 
little  evidence  of  the  passion  for  righteousness  by  which  the 
cultural  level  of  the  community  is  said  to  have  been  raised. 
Though  the  crucial  achievement  of  this  church  is  claimed  to  be  its 
success  in  "making  the  Christian  religion  a  qualifying  factor 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       253 

in  every  aspect  of  community  life,"  we  must  take  this  on  faith 
which,  according  to  St.  Paul,  is  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen. 

The  School  of  Textiles,  N.  C.  State  College,  Its  Past  and 
Present,  by  T.  R.  Hart,  is  a  labor  of  love  written  from  the  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  a  third  of  a  century  at  N.  C.  State  College. 
Like  most  schools,  this  one  is  more  than  the  lengthened  shadow 
of  any  one  man.  Stimulated  by  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Heriot 
Clarkson  and  Daniel  A.  Tompkins  at  the  turn  of  the  century,  and 
ably  led  by  Dean  Thomas  Nelson  in  a  later  era,  a  separate  textile 
school  was  established  in  1925.  Aided  by  the  contributions  of 
private  industry  and  by  the  gratifying  results  of  textile  research, 
the  school  has  today  taken  its  place — which  is  one  of  signifi- 
cance— in  the  growing  industrialization  of  North  Carolina  and 
the  South.  If  one  wishes  to  read  a  streamlined  account  of  the 
establishment  of  this  school,  its  administrative  leaders,  its 
faculty,  facilities,  curriculum,  the  location  of  its  alumni,  or  its 
services  to  the  textile  industry,  one  can  find  it  all  in  this  compe- 
tent volume  by  the  present  director  of  instruction. 

Equally  authentic  is  Greensboro  Lodge  No.  76,A.F.&A.  M.,  in 
which  Early  W.  Bridges,  author  of  Masonic  Governors  of  North 
Carolina,  past  master  of  Greensboro  Lodge  No.  76,  and  curator 
of  the  Masonic  Museum,  offers  a  history  of  the  lodge,  done  in  the 
filiopietistic  spirit  of  an  official  historian.  The  heart  of  the  book 
is  the  series  of  sketches  of  masters  of  the  lodge  over  its  life  of 
130  years.  Written  largely  from  the  minutes  of  the  lodge,  and 
from  a  number  of  secondary  sources,  it  gives  us  the  straight- 
forward and  largely  unadorned  account  of  the  life  and  expan- 
sion of  an  important  component  part  of  the  sweet  land  of 
secrecy.  "Masonry  is  a  profession,"  wrote  Dr.  Hubert  Poteat. 
In  this  vein  we  have  portrayed  the  "spirit  of  '76." 

There  remain  two  studies  which  we  may  include  in  the  his- 
torical category,  and  their  wide  variance  illustrates  the  inclu- 
siveness  of  that  discipline.  The  Navy  and  Industrial  Mobilization 
in  World  War  II  illustrates  how  the  recent  global  conflict  taught 
us  lessons  on  the  industrial  front  as  well  as  on  the  military. 
Robert  H.  Connery,  professor  of  public  administration  at  Duke 
University,  gives  us  an  impressive  example  of  administrative 
history  done  in  the  soundest  manner  of  thorough  scholarship. 
His  work  is  a  history  of  the  Navy  ashore,  and  the  story  is  domi- 
nated by  the  statesmanship  of  one  man,  James  Forrestal.  It  was 


254  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

he  who  led  the  material  organization  and  greatly  improved  the 
administrative  structure  of  the  Department  of  the  Navy.  It  was 
he  who  balanced  civilian  control  and  operational  freedom  to  the 
satisfaction  of  both.  The  tremendous  problems  of  industrial  mo- 
bilization, and  the  organization  to  effect  it,  are  described  in 
faithful  detail.  How  can  a  nation  centralize  policy-making  and 
decentralize  operations  ?  How  can  that  "magic  blend  of  profit  and 
patriotism"  be  attained?  What  is  the  relation  between  strategy 
and  logistics?  One  may  read  the  answers  in  the  decisions  con- 
cerning contracts,  allocations,  priorities,  and  procurements  in 
an  enterprise  in  which  dollars  were  of  no  consideration  after 
1941.  Above  all  else  we  learn  two  things  from  this  story:  there  is 
a  science  as  well  as  an  art  of  mobilizing  for  war ;  and  there  is  no 
easy  or  cheap  way  to  win  a  global  conflict.  This  is  a  hundred  bil- 
lion dollar  story.  On  the  morning  of  the  tenth  anniversary  of 
Pearl  Harbor  it  is  pleasant  to  have  such  abundant  evidence  that 
the  Navy  recovered  from  that  treacherous  blow. 

Equally  impressive  is  American  Sociology  by  Howard  W. 
Odum.  From  the  vantage  point  of  the  mid-century  position  a 
distinguished  sociologist  has  told  the  story  of  the  rise  of  his 
own  subject  from  the  groping  frontier  stage  into  a  mature 
academic  position.  Some  of  the  professional  language  is  present, 
but  the  book  is  not  written  for  the  specialist  so  much  as  for  the 
layman.  Here  is  the  tale  of  a  dynamic  discipline  which  has 
spawned  a  thousand  Ph.D.'s  and  a  jargon  of  its  own.  It  is  pri- 
marily the  story  of  teaching,  research,  and  writing,  of  societies 
and  journals,  with  emphasis  upon  men  more  than  upon  move- 
ments. Here  we  may  find  the  heritage  and  trends,  the  promise 
and  prospect  of  a  promiscuous  mistress,  for  sociology  has  never 
achieved  the  integrity  of  one  science.  From  Ward  and  Sumner 
and  Giddings  to  Odum  himself  the  procession  marches  on  before 
us  in  full  display,  prolific  and  prolix.  They  have  pioneered  in 
social  theory  and  industrial  relations,  in  race  and  family  and 
population  studies,  in  regionalism,  and  in  a  dozen  other  cate- 
gories. Religion  as  a  social  institution  they  appear  to  have 
neglected ;  or,  to  put  it  another  way,  they  have  avoided  analysis 
of  any  value  systems.  And  sociology  has  been  very  critical  of 
the  magnificent  generalizations  of  a  Spengler  or  a  Toynbee. 
Sumner's  Science  of  Society  now  disclaims  being  a  science  of 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       255 

progress.  It  has  sought  no  pot  of  gold  at  the  rainbow's  end.  Yet, 
as  Gerald  Johnson  has  said,  the  average  American  regards  soci- 
ology somewhat  as  he  does  penicillin :  "It  is  obviously  a  necessity 
in  the  modern  world.  It  has  worked  some  marvelous  cures  and 
promises  to  work  more,  but  it  is  tricky.  Unintelligently  handled, 
its  toxicity  can  be  terrific  and  the  greatest  experts  don't  know 
any  too  much  about  the  after  effects."  But  if  anybody  knows,  it 
will  likely  be  Dr.  Howard  Washington  Odum.  Certainly  he  knows 
everything  else  about  American  sociology. 

From  Duke  University  there  are  two  studies  of  literary  fig- 
ures. In  The  Literary  Career  of  Nathaniel  Tucker,  1750-1807, 
Professor  Lewis  Leary,  already  the  author  of  a  most  successful 
life  of  Philip  Freneau,  offers  the  story  of  the  career  of  another 
failure.  Nathaniel  Tucker  was  an  admittedly  minor  poet  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  distinguished  only  by  a  literary  ambition  and 
an  itch  for  fame  which  he  never  realized.  Coming  from  his  native 
Bermuda  to  Charleston  in  1771,  "where  gallantry  was  a  pleasant 
avocation,"  he  soon  went  to  England  where  he  spent  the  remain- 
ing thirty  years  of  life  in  the  literary  exercise  of  "wrenching  a 
rhyme  into  place"  as  an  avocation,  and  engaging  in  the  desultory 
practice  of  medicine  as  a  vocation.  His  poems  were  emotional 
and  furious  but  essentially  without  meaning  and  certainly  with- 
out distinction.  They  were  usually  imitative  and  always  didactic, 
attempting  to  discover  amid  the  murky  tangle  of  cruelty  dis- 
played by  man  to  man  some  intelligent  pattern  which  the  vir- 
tuous might  follow.  Listen: 

Great  God  of  Nature,  is  it  so, 
Was  man  created  but  for  wo? 
Must  all  the  pleasure  he  can  share 
Confirm  and  heighten  his  despair? 


Some  future  period  in  thy  plan, 
Must  justify  thy  ways  to  man. 

Convinc'd,  even  while  with  grief  deprest, 
That  all  thy  kind  decrees  are  best. 

This  is  retreat,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  later  life  Tucker 
found  in  Swedenborg  refreshment  and  solace,  for  the  rational 
precision  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  incapable  of  explaining 


256  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  irrational  conduct  of  man.  This  was  the  transcendentalism 
of  escape,  and  Tucker  might  fittingly  take  a  place  in  Edwin 
Arlington  Robinson's  gallery  of  conspicuous  failures.  But  one 
man's  poison  is  another  man's  meat;  Professor  Leary  has  made 
a  critical  success  for  himself  out  of  the  literary  failure  of  another. 
What  there  is  at  Duke  which  makes  escapism  attractive  I  do 
not  know.  But  I  do  know  that  another  Duke  professor,  Loring 
Baker  Walton,  in  Anatole  France  and  the  Greek  World,  has  ex- 
amined the  literary  career  of  that  expert  amateur  in  antiquity 
who  hypnotized  himself  with  the  beautiful  past,  not  of  Sweden- 
borg,  but  of  Homer  and  Spohocles  and  Phidias.  Anatole  France 
once  said  that  when  he  died  he  knew  the  worms  of  scholarship 
would  swarm  over  his  literary  corpse.  Yet  this  worm  has  bored 
with  a  sympathy  and  an  appreciation  and  a  vast  learning  which 
must  have  eased  the  ordeal  of  the  victim.  The  worm  has  turned 
up  a  carcass  which  had  a  voraciously  curious  mind,  enthusiastic 
rather  than  systematic,  and  whose  pen  wrote  as  one  who  lived 
as  well  as  loved  the  myths  which  saturated  his  being.  The  great 
charm  of  Anatole  France  was,  as  was  the  charm  of  the  Greeks, 
that  he  was  ever  a  grown-up  child,  brought  up  on  myths  and 
never  tiring  of  them  even  when  he  ceased  to  believe  them ;  they 
were  beautiful  veils  thrown  over  the  mystery  of  life.  "The  man 
who  made  a  museum  of  his  own  home  always  felt  at  home  in 
museums."  In  his  nine  journeys  to  the  regions  of  antiquity,  and 
in  scores  of  vicarious  ones,  he  learned  to  worship  Greece  as  a 
substitute  for  the  Christian  faith  he  had  lost.  Militantly  anti- 
clerical, he  was  ever  hostile  to  the  jealous  Hebrew  God  of  Christi- 
anity; he  idolized  polytheism  and  worshipped  Greek  humanity 
and  beauty  as  the  supreme  achievement  of  the  human  race.  In 
the  panorama  of  life  spread  out  behind  us  Greece  was  its  most 
beautiful  moment.  But  the  Greek  minds  abhorred  a  miracle,  be- 
lieving they  had  the  courage  to  face  reality :  France  had  no  such 
courage.  Aristotle  admitted  that  the  Greeks  were  not  a  happy 
people :  neither  was  Anatole  France.  Professor  Walton  has  writ- 
ten a  beautiful  book  to  clarify  France's  position  as  an  exponent  of 
the  antique  and  to  show  the  impact  of  Greek  culture  on  modern 
French  literature.  Though  the  book  is  directed  principally  to 
France  specialists  and  to  literary  historians  we,  who  are  neither, 


North  Carolina  Non-Fiction  Works  for  1951       257 

can  still  be  happy  that  we  did  not  follow  his  frank  admonition 
and  skip  a  couple  of  chapters.  We  had  to  watch  the  worm  turn. 

Economics  is  represented  by  only  one  book,  but  it  is  well  repre- 
sented. Calvin  B.  Hoover  and  B.  U.  Ratchford,  two  more  Duke 
scholars,  have  given  us  a  great  deal  to  chew  on  in  their  volume  on 
Economic  Resources  and  Policies  of  the  South.  Do  not  let  the 
appearance  of  this  book  discourage  you.  It  looks  formidable 
because  of  its  nearly  one  hundred  statistical  tables  and  its  dozen 
charts,  together  with  the  staggering  array  of  footnotes  which 
testify  to  the  scholarship  of  the  authors.  But  there  is  reward  for 
the  serious  reader  as  he  journeys  down  the  assembly  line  of 
facts  about  the  productive  resources  of  the  South.  For  this 
volume  is  not  simply  a  collection  of  facts,  but  an  interpretation 
as  well,  particularly  as  the  data  bear  on  the  problem  of  lifting 
income  in  the  South,  which  is  the  central  theme  of  the  study. 

The  result  is  a  sound  and  sensible  analysis  of  the  structure  of 
southern  economy  which  never  claims  overwhelming  riches  for 
the  region,  as  some  more  careless  enthusiasts  have  formerly  as- 
serted. On  the  contrary,  it  presents  a  picture  of  a  region  whose 
soil  is  relatively  poor,  whose  income  is  low,  whose  educational 
system  is  inadequate,  and  which  is  short  on  its  proportionate 
share  of  industry,  machinery,  and  banking,  and  whose  produc- 
tion and  marketing  system  is  faulty.  Analysis  is  followed  by  con- 
clusion :  whereas  the  South  does  not  have  unlimited  resources  or 
great  wealth,  proper  policies  could  raise  the  present  level  of 
income  to  a  substantially  higher  figure.  Education  and  carefully 
selected  industry  are  suggested  as  the  most  feasible  means, 
offering  substantial  rewards.  This  is  the  best  of  several  analyses 
of  southern  resources,  and  it  is  the  best  because  the  findings  have 
been  digested  as  well  as  discovered.  It  is  a  reference  to  which 
scholars  will  continually  turn  for  both  knowledge  and  wisdom. 

Wisdom  of  quite  another  kind  is  furnished  us  by  the  remaining 
two  volumes  of  our  original  eighteen.  It  comes  through  the 
medium  of  autobiography. 

In  the  September,  1951,  issue  of  The  Woman's  Home  Com- 
panion Turnley  Walker,  still  not  really  recovered  from  polio, 
wrote  as  follows :  "On  the  advice  of  two  well-known  editors  and 
a  family  friend,  I  wrote  a  little  book  about  what  I  was  seeing 
and  feeling  and,  though  I  still  could  not  walk,  I  made  myself 
walk  at  the  close  of  the  little  book.  When  the  words  were  down 


258  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

on  paper  I  knew  that  some  day,  in  some  manner,  my  nearly  help- 
less legs  would  actually  accomplish  this." 

The  "little  book,"  called  Rise  Up  And  Walk,  became  a  Book-of- 
the-Month  Club  selection,  its  pages  revealing  even  more  con- 
vincingly than  does  the  quotation,  the  valor  of  the  victim.  For  it 
is  the  mental  autobiography  of  a  polio  patient ;  it  is  a  powerful 
personal  testimony  that  polio  is  a  lonely  place,  a  quiet  life  where 
nothing  moves  but  the  wheels  in  the  brain.  It  is  not  a  medical 
answer  but  the  reply  of  the  human  spirit  to  a  shattering  experi- 
ence. This  slender  volume  is  beautifully  written  with  an  economy 
of  words,  and  its  simplicity  carries  conviction. 

A  Southern  Lawyer  by  Aubrey  Lee  Brooks  is  the  autobiog- 
raphy of  an  outstanding  southern  liberal  who  grew  up  with  the 
"Hartford  of  the  South,"  and  who  has  made  a  reputation  for 
himself  not  only  as  a  lawyer  but  as  an  author  and  an  editor  as 
well.  Mr.  Brooks  tells  his  story  with  simplicity  and  directness, 
and  it  is  characterized  by  a  certain  mellow  philosophy  which 
contributes  to  its  unfailing  interest.  It  has  about  it  an  authentic 
southern  flavor,  more  easily  recognized  than  defined,  and  exudes 
the  atmosphere  of  both  Cavalier  and  Puritan  attitudes  which 
were  the  author's  heritage.  His  life  has  about  it,  as  he  tells  it, 
a  certain  quality  of  infallibility:  if  he  ever  made  a  mistake  or 
committed  an  error  of  judgment  it  is  not  recorded  here — at  least 
not  as  an  error.  His  book  is  filled  with  anecdotes  and  employs 
his  intimate  knowledge  of  many  of  the  great  and  would-be-great 
in  North  Carolina  and  beyond.  Fair-mindedness  characterizes 
his  accounts  of  numerous  celebrated  cases  in  North  Carolina, 
such  as  the  Lassiter  case,  the  Cole  case,  the  Cannon-Reynolds- 
Holman  case,  in  each  of  which  he  played  a  conspicuous  part.  His 
account  of  the  Richardson  case  is  not  exactly  the  way  in  which 
other  Presbyterians  might  tell  it.  Still  we  may  conclude  that 
Mr.  Brooks  has  achieved  that  quality  of  perspective  which  com- 
bined with  age  and  wisdom  and  sincerity  gives  dignity  to  litera- 
ture as  well  as  to  life. 

It  seems  evident  that  we  have  found,  in  this  analysis,  no  com- 
mon denominator.  But  I,  for  one,  am  glad  of  it.  North  Carolina 
is  celebrated  as  a  state  of  varied  resources,  and  if  we  could  have 
boiled  down  her  literary  production  into  one  pattern  we  would 
be  out  of  tune  with  her  principal  characteristic — the  infinite 
riches  of  variety. 


LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO 
ANDREW  JOHNSON 

Edited  By  Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

[Continued'} 

From  William  Scott  Worth104 
By  Telegraph 

Greensboro  N.  C. 

Oct.  2nd  1867. 
Maj  Jas  P.  Roy 
Act'g  Pro  Mar  Gen'l. 
2nd  Mil  Dist 
Charleston  S.  C. 

Jesse  C.  Griffith  has  been  sheriff  and  Zacharrias  Hoper  Jailor  of 
Caswell  County  N.  C.  Since  I  have  been  in  command  of  this  Post, 
and  I  understand  have  held  that  position  for  the  last  two  years. 

Capt  and  Bvt  Maj  U.  S.  A. 

Com'd'g  Post. 
A  true  copy 
L.  V.  Caziarc 
A.  D.  C.  A  A  A  A  G. 
Hdqs  2d  mily  Dist 
Nov.  11,  1867 

From  Edgar  W.  Dennis105 
Copy 

Headquarters  Second  Military  District, 
Judge  Advocates  Office, 
Charleston  S.  C.  October  4, 1867 
Lieutenant  Louis  V.  Caziarc, 
Act.  Asst.  Adjt  General 
Sir: 

The  papers  in  the  case  of  Wm.  M.  Johnson,  are  respectfully 
returned  with  the  following  remarks:106 

William  M.  Johnson  is  a  citizen  of  Rockingham  County,  North 
Carolina,  was  a  union  man,  belonging  to  the  army  of  the  so-called 
Confederate  States.  In  the  spring  of  1863,  he  deserted  from  that 
army  and  endeavored  to  raise  a  company  of  men  to  cross  with 
him  to  the  Federal  lines.  He  was  closely  pressed  by  rebel  con- 
script hunters,  and  being  without  money,  or  food,  he  with  two 


104  William  Scott  Worth  of  New  York  entered  the  army  as  a  second  lieutenant  on  April  26, 

1861,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general  before  his  retirement  on  November  9,  1898.  He 
was  brevetted  for  meritorious  service  at  Petersburg  and  in  the  campaign  which  terminated 
with  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  at  Appomattox.  Heitman,  Historical  Register  and  Dic- 
tionary of  the  United  States  Army,  I,  1061. 

los  Edgar  Whetten  Dennis  joined  the  New  York  artillery  on  December  27,  1861,  and  served 
as  a  private  until  February  20,  1862,  when  he  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant.  On  July  11, 

1862,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  captain  and  on  January  19,  1865,  he  became  a  major. 
He  was  brevetted  a  lieutenant  colonel  on  December  2,  1865,  and  remained  in  the  army  until 
his  resignation  on  May  22,  1869.  He  died  on  April  2,  1878.  Heitman,  Historical  Register  and 
Dictionary  of  the  United  States  Army,  I,  367. 

106  See  General  Canby's  letter  of  November  14,  1867. 

[259] 


260  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

others,  entered  the  house  of  one  Moore,  and  without  offering 
violence  to  any  of  the  family,  took  therefrom  for  their  immediate 
necessities  about  twenty  dollars  worth  of  bread  and  meat,  and 
five  dollars  in  Confederate  money.  His  companions  were  captured, 
confined  in  the  Rockingham  County  jail  and  indicted  at  the  next 
session  of  the  Superior  Court,  together  with  Johnson,  for  Bur- 
glary. The  other  two  were  tried ;  acquitted  of  the  burglary,  con- 
victed of  larceny  and  pardoned,  on  condition  that  they  would  join 
the  rebel  army,  which  they  did. 

Johnson  himself,  with  the  indictment  for  burglary  hanging 
over  him,  escaped  through  the  Union  lines ;  entered  the  Federal 
service;  was  appointed  1st  Lieutenant  in  the  10th.  Tennessee 
Volunteers,  and  served  faithfully  with  the  Union  forces,  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  then  returned  to  Rockingham  county, 
was  arrested  on  the  old  indictment  of  1863,  for  Burglary,  was 
refused  bail,  although  those  indicted  for  murder  were  allowed  it, 
and  confined  to  await  his  trial,  subjected  to  every  sort  of  indig- 
nity. He  suceeded  in  having  the  place  of  trial  changed  to  Caswell 
county,  and  at  the  Fall  term  of  the  court  in  1866,  was  found 
guilty  of  Burglary,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged. 

From  the  Superior  Court,  his  case  was  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
court,  in  the  spring  of  1867,  and  his  sentence  was  there  confirmed. 

So  soon  as  he  was  convicted,  in  the  Superior  court,  he  was 
thrust  into  jail,  chained  down  in  an  iron  cage,  nine  feet  square 
by  six  feet  high,  without  fire  or  sufficient  clothing,  or  any  means 
of  warmth,  during  the  winter  season,  in  which  condition  he  was 
forced  to  remain  until  about  the  6th  day  of  May,  1867,  when  he 
was  released  upon  an  absolute  pardon,  granted  by  Gov  Worth, 
under  date  of  the  27th,  day  of  April,  1867. 

This  inhuman  treatment  was  under  the  direction  of  Jesse  C. 
Griffith,  Sheriff  of  Caswell  county,  assisted  by  Zacharius  Hooper, 
Jailor,  and  was  imposed  solely  because  Johnson  was  a  Union  man 
and  had  served  in  the  Union  Army. 

Upon  the  trial  in  the  Superior  Court,  the  Judge,  on  a  charge  of 
Burglary,  admitted  the  following  evidence  to  wit :-  that  Johnson 
had  acted  as  guide  for  Stoneman  in  his  raid  in  North  Carolina; 
that  he  had  said  he  wished  every  damned  secessionist  was  killed ; 
that  he  (Johnson)  had  done  them  all  the  harm  he  could  &  c. 

The  Solicitor,  Thomas  Settle,  who  conducted  the  prosecution, 
was  Johnson's  former  Confederate  Captain  and  kept  it  prominent- 
ly before  the  court  and  jury  that  the  prisoner  had  been  a  deserter, 
and  traitor  to  the  Confederate  cause.  One  of  the  prosecuting 
attorney's,  in  his  remarks  to  the  jury,  is  reported  to  have  said 
Johnson  "was  a  deserter  from  the  Confederate  army,  and  ought 
to  be  hung  anyhow." 

It  is  recommended  that  the  said  Griffith  be  tried  by  Military 
commission.  It  is  not  deemed  advisable  to  join  the  Jailor  of  Cas- 
well county,  in  the  charge,  for  the  reason  that,  by  the  laws  of 
North  Carolina,  the  Sheriff  is  principally  responsible  for  the 
treatment  of  prisoners  as  may  be  confined  in  a  county  jail,  the 


Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson    261 

jailor  acting  under  the  Sheriff's  direction,  and  by  his  orders.  Be- 
sides, it  is  not  thought  advisable  to  join  such  trials  together. 
A  true  copy 
Louis  V  Caziarc 
ADC  Actctly 
Hdqrs  2nd  Mily  Dist 
Nov.  11.  1867 

Very  Respectfully 
Your  Obt.  Servant 

Bvt.  Col.  Judge  Advocate  U.  S.  A. 

Judge  Advocate  2nd  Mil.  Dist. 

copy  From  Jonathan  Worth 

State  of  North  Carolina 
Executive  Department 
Raleigh  Oct  10th  1867. 
Major  Gen  Avery. 
Raleigh  N.  C. 
General 

I  enclose  letter  just  received  from  Mr  Phillpott  and  request  that 
you  avail  yourself  of  the  facts  stated  to  aid  in  the  examination 
of  the  witness  Susan  Lewis. 

I  regret  the  decision  of  your  Court,  declining  to  allow  the  State 
to  be  represented  on  this  trial  on  the  ground  that  "it  is  contrary 
to  all  precedent  and  against  the  usage  of  the  service/' 

I  know  nothing  of  precedent  or  the  usage  of  the  service  in 
Military  trials.  I  had  supposed  that  so  few  instances  had  occurred 
of  the  nullification  of  the  action  of  a  Civil  Court  by  order  of  a 
Military  Commandant,  on  the  ground  of  mal-conduct  on  the  part 
of  the  Civil  Court,  that  precedent  or  usage  had  scarcely  been 
established,  denying  to  the  State  the  right  to  be  heard  in  vindica- 
tion of  her  judicial  tribunals.  It  seems  I  was  mistaken  but  with 
all  due  respect  I  must  be  allowed  to  say  that  I  can  conceive  of  no 
just  ground  on  which  such  precedent  or  usage  rests. 

As  the  State  is  not  allowed  to  be  represented  on  a  trial  calling 
in  question  the  action  of  one  of  her  Courts,  I  desire  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  fact  which  I  stated  to  you  in  conversation  a  few 
days  ago,  that  Samuel  A.  Williams,107  a  pious  man  residing  at 
Oxford,  informed  me  in  writing  (which  written  statement  I  sent 
to  Genl  Sickles)  that  after  the  conviction  of  the  prisoner,  at 
Spring  Term  1865,  of  Granville  Superior  Court,  he  visited  the 
prison  to  pray  with  prisoner  and  prepare  him  for  death-  and 
that  prisoner  then,  without  any  question  by  said  Williams,  of  his 
own  free  will  confessed,  that  he  was  guilty  and  ought  to  die,  and 
desired  said  Williams  to  pray  for  him  and  prepare  him  for  death- 
and  that  he  (Williams)  communicated  to  you  the  facts  while  you 
were  investigating  the  facts  of  this  case,  to  accertain  whether 
justice  required  the  withdrawal  of  this  case  from  the  Civil 
authorities  of  the  State. 


107  See  Governor  Worth's  letter  to  Dr.  Samuel  A.  Williams,  May  21,  1867.  Hamilton,  Cor- 
respondence of  Jonathan  Worth,  II,  961. 


262  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

If  there  be  color  of  doubt  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  or  the 
evidence  now  before  your  Court,  I  respectfully  ask  that  this  wit- 
ness be  summoned  and  examined  before  your  Court. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 
Yours  Very  Respectfully 
Governor  of  N.  C. 

From  G.  N.  Folk108 
Extract 

Lenoir  N.  C. 

Oct  12th  1867 
Colonel  Jno  R.  Edie  USA 
Comdg  Post 
Salisbury  No  Ca 

My  duty  as  Counsel  constrains  me  to  call  your  attention  to 
certain  criminal  prosecutions  now  pending  in  the  Superior  Court 
of  Law  for  Caldwell  County  against  William  Mck.  Blalock.  Blalock 
was  a  soldier  of  the  United  States,  and  during  the  war,  from  his 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  country,  and  his  knowledge  of  the 
union  men  of  this  section,  was  detailed  to  secure  recruits  for  that 
portion  of  the  Federal  Army  operating  in  East  Tenn.  He  was 
provided  with  recruiting  papers,  and  made  several  trips  between 
the  lines  of  the  two  armies.  While  engaged  in  collecting  recruits, 
and  guiding  them  into  the  union  Lines,  he  was  frequently  com- 
pelled to  avail  himself  of  the  premission  given  him  by  his  com- 
manding officer  to  provide  himself  and  party  with  food,  horses 
and  forage  from  the  country.  For  so  doing,  not  less  than  twenty 
indictments,  ranging  from  an  indictment  for  forcible  trespass  to 
one  for  murder,  have  been  found  against  him.  I  have  defended 
him  in  many  cases,  and  in  no  one  of  these  has  it  ever  been  proved 
that  he  took  a  single  thing  maliciously,  or  for  any  other  than  the 
purposes  indicated  in  his  orders. 

I  have  no  sympathy  with  Blalock  other  than  arises  from  my 
professional  connection  with  him,  having  served  throughout  the 
entire  war  in  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States.  I  can  be  ac- 
tuated by  no  other  desire  than  to  do  my  duty  to  him  as  counsel, 
and  to  see  that  he  has  Justice. 

I  am,  Colonel, 

Very  Respectfully 

Your  Obt  Servt 
Counsel  for  Blalock 
Headquarters  2nd  Mil  District 
Charleston  S.  C.  No  13,  1867. 
A  true  copy 
Louis  V.  Caziarc 
A.  D.  C.  and  A.  A.  A.  G. 

From  Edward  R.  S.  Canby 
Copy 


108  G.  N.  Folk  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1874  and  was  among  those  who  favored 
the  calling  of  a  convention  in  North  Carolina.  Hamilton,  Reconstruction,  605. 


Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson    263 

Head  Quarters  2nd  Mility  Dist 

Charleston  S.  C.  Oct  19th  1867. 
His  Excellency 

Jonathan  Worth, 
Governor  of  N.  C. 
Raleigh  N.  C. 
Sir. 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  extracts  from  the  report 
of  the  Judge  Advocate  of  this  District  upon  the  case  of  Carney 
Spears,  which  formed  the  subject  of  your  Communication  of  Aug 
14th  1867. 

The  real  merits  of  this  case  are  very  much  confused  but  it 
appears  to  have  been  the  intention  of  Captain  Denny  to  terminate 
a  service  on  the  part  of  Spears  that  was  indeffinite  in  period  and 
in  consideration.  With  this  understanding  and  to  this  extent  his 
action  has  been  approved  and  is  limited. 

Very  Respectfully  Sir. 
Your  Obt  Servant 
Bvt.  Maj.  Genl  Commanding 

"Extract  from  report  of  Judge  Advocate  2nd  Military  District 
dated  Charleston,  S.  C.  Oct.  10th  1867,  in  the  case  of  Carney 
Spears. 

"Continuing  his  statement  Capt  Denny  says,  that  he  found 
Spears  by  some  arrangement,  had  been  released  from  jail  upon 
one  Natt  Atkinson  becoming  responsible  to  the  Clerk  of  the 
Court  for  the  cost  of  the  suit,  Spears  to  work  with  him  until  he 
had  paid  by  labor  the  costs;  but  that  no  party  know  what  the 
costs  were  at  that  time  -  not  even  the  clerk  of  the  Court  and  that 
no  sum  per  month  had  been  fixed  as  the  compensation  to  be  al- 
lowed to  the  blackman  and  that  in  fact  there  was  no  further 
understanding  from  that  Atkinson  became  responsible  for  the 
costs,  not  knowing  how  much  they  amounted  to,  and  the  blackman 
was  to  work  until  he  had  re-imbursed  Atkinson.  Capt  Denny  then 
refers  to  General  Orders  No.  34.  C.  S.  which  provides  that  "Im- 
prisonment for  default  in  payment  of  costs,  fees  or  charges  of 
Court  shall  not  exceed  "thirty  days"  and  "insists  that  the  ar- 
rangement between  Spears  and  Atkinson  was  a  trick  to  evade  the 
requirements  of  that  order;  and  consequently  he  suspended  the 
further  operation  of  this  agreement  until  he  could  communicate 
all  the  facts  in  the  case" 

Captain  Denny  continuing  his  report  says,  It  will  be  borne  in 
mind  that  I  did  not  revoke  the  findings  of  the  jury  in  this  case.  I 
suspended  the  operation  of  the  virtual  selling  of  Spears,  because 
judgement  had  not  been  pressed  against  him  and  because  nobody 
appeared  to  know  what  the  costs  were,  or  what  compensation 
Atkinson  was  to  allow  him  a  month  for  services. 

Inasmuch  as  it  appears  from  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
case,  that  the  binding  out  of  Spears  to  Atkinson  was  totally  with- 
out legal  authorization  because  of  its  indefiniteness  as  to  the 
amount  Spears  was  to  pay  by  his  labor  and  the  time  he  was  to 
work  for  Atkinson,  it  is  thought  that  the  action  of  Capt  Denny 
should  not  only  be  interfered  with  but  confirmed ;  and  that  Spears 


264  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

be  released  from  his  supposed  obligation.  This  would  seem  the 
more  proper  course  for  the  reason  that  Coleman  in  his  statement 
asserts  that  the  Court  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  arrangement 
between  Spears  and  Atkinson.  In  this  view  upon  the  facts  before 
this  Office  there  seems  no  need  of  any  action  touching  the  Civil 
and  Judicial  Officers  whose  names  are  connected  with  the  case 
and  none  is  desired." 
Head  Quarters  2nd  Mil.  Dist. 
Oct.  19th  1867. 

Affidavit  of  Elisha  J.  Tweed 
State  of  North  Carolina  Madison  County 

I  E.  J.  Tweed  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  in  and  for  said  County 
do  certify  that  D.  E.  Freeman  Esq  before  whom  the  foregoing 
afidavits  were  made  was  at  that  time  and  still  is  an  acting  Justice 
of  the  Peace  duly  commissioned  and  sworn  as  the  law  directs  and 
that  the  signature  purporting  to  be  his  is  his  genuine  Signature. 
In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereto  set  my  hand  and  affixed  the 
seal  of  said  Court  at  office  in  Marshall  This  the  19th  day  of  Oc- 
tober 1867 

E.  J.  Tweed  Clerk 
of  the  County  Court. 

Affidavit  of  A.  E.  Deaver 

[October  19,  1867] 
State  of  North  Carolina  County  of  Madison 

On  this  the  19th  day  of  October  1867.  Personally  appeared  be- 
fore me,  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  aforesaid  County  One  A.  E. 
Dever  [sic]  resident  of  the  County  of  Madison,  who  being  duly 
sworn,  deposeth  as  follows :-  I  heard  him  remark  at  Ash  [e]  ville 
Buncombe  County  North  Carolina  in  the  Buck  Hotel,  to  one  Man 
Hensley-a  resident  of  Marshall  Madison  County  who  was  so- 
journing at  Ash  [e]  ville  at  the  time  -  in  words  as  follows  as  near 
as  I  can  recollect-I  wish  you  to  return  to  Marshall  -  I  want  four 
(4)  Bushels  of  Liquor  at  the  Election  that  is  coming  on,  and  I 
shall  be  present  myself  at  this  election,  I  shall  not  go  off  as  I  did 
before  (This  election  illuded  to  the  one  for  Union  or  Secession 
that  was  held  on  the  28th  of  Feby  1861.  the  election  that  he 
wanted  to  have  the  5  Bushels  of  Liquor  at  was  to  come  off  on,  the 
13th  May  1861.)  This  man  Ransom  P  Merrell  has  always  bourn 
a  bad  character  as  an  overbearing  Desparado  and  has  always 
been  a  violent  Secessionist 

Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me  D.  E.  Freeman  J  P 

Affidavit  of  Elihu  H.  Rector 

[October  19,  1867] 
State  of  North  Carolina  County  of  Madison 
On  this  19th  day  of  October  1867.  Personally  appeared  before  me 
a  Justice  of  the  peace,  one  Elghu  [sic]  H.  Rector  a  resident  of 
Madison  County  State  of  North  Carolina  who  being  duly  sworn 
deposeth  as  follows. 

I  was  at  Marshall,  on  the  morning  of  the  election  of  the  13th 


Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson    265 

of  May  1861.  I  heard  the  said  Merrell  hurra  for  Jeff  Davis  and 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  this  was  done  on  the  main  street 

Immediately  after  Hockley  Morton  a  citizen  in  the  aforesaid 
County  of  Madison  came  along  for  the  purpose  of  voting,  and 
whereupon  interrogated  by  Ransom  P  Merrell  as  follows-What 
are  you  doing  with  your  Gun?  I  do  not  remember  what  Norton 
replied;  but  Merrell  presented  his  pistol  and  advanced  upon 
Norton;-  Norton  gave  way  still  followed  by  Merrell,  pistol  in 
hand-  A  crowd  gathered  around  Merrell  and  Norton  went  off. 

Immediately,  and  as  soon  as  Norton  retired  out  of  his  reach ,- 
he  turned  around  and  presented  his  pistol  at  and  in  the  direction 
of  Nealy  Tweed  and  Elisha  J.  Tweed  his  son,  when  Nealy  Tweed 
saw  the  pistol  presented  towards  him  and  his  son,  he  dodged  be- 
hind some  other  men,-Merrell  took  deleberate  [sic]  aim,  and  fired 
wounding  (seriously)  Elisha  J.  Tweed  in  the  right  arm  &  right 
side  (Said  Elisha  J  Tweed  having  just  come  from  his  farm  for 
the  purpose  of  voting)  as  soon  as  he  shot  Elisha  J.  Tweed  he  was 
taken  to  a  House  and  locked  up  by  some  citizens  in  order  to  quell 
the  mob  and  row. 

After  being  locked  in  the  house  he  went  to  one  of  the  windows, 
up  stairs,  fronting  the  street  and  raised  it-He  then  presented 
himself  at  the  window  up  stairs  fronting  the  street  and  raised 
it-He  then  presented  himself  pistol  in  Hand,  and  he  said  "Come 
up  here  all  you  damn  Black  Republicans  and  take  a  shot  about 
with  me. 

I  have  known  Ransom  P  Merrell  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and 
although  he  was  a  Civil  officer  he  was  always  apt  or  he  did  break 
the  peace  on  several  occasions. 
Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me  D.  E.  Freeman  J  P 

Affidavit  of  William  R.  Roberts 

[October  19,  1867] 
State  of  North  Carolina  County  of  Madison- 

On  thie  19th  day  of  October  1867.  Personally  appeared  before 
me  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  for  the  aforesaid  Madison  County,  one, 
William  R.  Roberts,  a  resident  of  Madison  County,  being  duly 
sworn  deposeth  as  follows-I  heard  Merrell  say  on  the  Morning 
of  the  Election  before  the  poles  were  open  that  he  (Merrell) 
entended  to  Rule  the  day  and  that  if  McDowell  was  not  elected 
he  (Merrell)  entended  to  shed  some  man's  blood.  (McDowell  was 
a  Secession  Candidate  against  Gudger  Union  Candidate)  I  furth- 
er saw  Tweed  shoot  Merrell,  and  I  also  heard  Merrell  say  after  he 
was  shot-Hurra  for  Jeff  Davis  &  the  Southern  Confederacy- 

his 
William  R    X    Roberts 
mark 
Attest  G  [e]  orge  W  Freeman 
Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me 

D.  E.  Freeman  J  P 

MAX     Bradly  [sicl 
[October  19,  1867] 
State  of  North  Carolina  County  of  Madison 


266  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

On  this  19th  day  of  October  1867.  Personally  appeared  before 
me  a  Justice  of  the  peace,  for  the  county  of  Madison  One  Mrs. 
M.  A  Bradley  a  resident  of  Madison  County,  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, who  being  duly  sworn  deposeth  as  follows : 

Ransom  P.  Merrell  Sheriff  of  Madison  County  came  to  my  house 
on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  May  1861.  the  day  of  the  Election  at 
Marshall-  and  said  as  follows.  I  entend  to  Rule  Madison  County, 
at  the  election,  and  no  Lincolnite  or  Black  Republican  or  Tory 
shall  vote  Jack  Gudger.  (Said  Gudger  was  the  Union  Candidate 
on  that  occasion  and  firmly  opposed  to  Secession)  I  dont  ask  the 
Gudgers,  Barnett's  or  Nochols,  any  odds  for  they  are  tories  Said 
Merrell  also  told  me,  that  he  had  a  dream,  which  he  said  was  as 
f  ollows.-He  dreamed  that  he  had  a  large  Rattle  Sneak  [sic]  under 
his  foot  crushing  it,  and  that  he  intended  to  use  all  Union  men,  in 
the  manner,  whenever  he  had  an  oppertunity  [sic] 

her 
MAX     Bradly  [sic] 
mark 
Attest 
T  L  Saup 

Sworn  to  &  subscribed  to  before  thie  the  19th  day  of  October  1867 

D  E  Freeman  J  P 

Affidavit  of  William  Randall 

[October  19,  1867] 
State  of  North  Carolina  County  of  Madison 

On  this  19th  day  of  October  1867  Personally  appeared  before  me 
one  William  Randell,  [sic']  a  resident  of  Madison  County  State 
of  North  Carolina  who  being  duly  Sworn  deposeth  as  f  ollows- 

I  was  at  Marshall  on  the  morning  of  the  Election  the  13th  of 
May  1861.  I  heard  the  said  Merrell  hurra  for  Jeff  Davis  and  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  this  was  done  on  the  main  street,  where- 
upon Elsey  Frisby,  a  citizen  of  Marshall  hurra-ed  for  Washington 
&  the  Union-for  which  Merrell  drew  his  Postol  [sic]  on  said 
Frisby,-Frisby  Retired  from  the  said  Merrell, -Merrell  still  follow- 
ing him  up  pistol  in  hand.  I  got  between  Merrell  &  Frisby,  and 
drew  Merrells  attention  from  Frisby  (Frisby  then  went  off) 

Immediately  after  Hackley  Northon  [sic]  a  citizen  of  Madison 
County  came  along  for  the  purpose  of  voting,  and  whereupon 
interrogated  by  Merrell  as  follows-  What  are  you  doing  here 
with  your  Gun?-I  do  not  remember,  what  Norton  replied;  but 
Merrell  presented  his  pistol  and  advanced  upon  Norton-  Norton 
Gave  way  still  followed  by  Merrell  pistol  in  hand  -  A  crowd 
gathered  around  Merrell  &  Norton  went  off.  Immediately  as  soon 
as  Norton  retired  out  of  his  reach,-he  turned  around  and  pre- 
sented his  pistol  at  and  in  the  direction  of  Nealy  Tweed  and 
Elisha  J.  Tweed  his  son,  when  Nealy  Tweed  saw  the  pistol  pre- 
sented towards  him  and  his  son,  he  dodged  behind  some  other 
men.  Merrell  took  deliverate  [sic]  aim  and  fired  wounding  (seri- 
ously Elisha  J.  Tweed  in  the  right  arm  and  right  side  (said  Elisha 
J.  Tweed  having  just  came  from  his  farm  for  the  purpose  of 


Letters  from  North  Carolina  to  Andrew  Johnson    267 

voting)  as  soon  as  he  shot  Tweed  he  was  taken  to  a  house  and 
locked  up  by  some  Citizens  in  order  to  quell  the  row. 

After  being  locked  in  the  House  he  went  to  one  of  the  windows 
up  stairs  fronting  the  street  and  raised  it-He  then  presented 
himself  at  the  window  pistol  in  hand,  and  he  siad  [sic]  "Come  up 
here  all  you  Damn  Black  Republicans  and  take  a  shot  about  with 
me. 

I  have  known  Ransom  P.  Merrell  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  al- 
though he  was  a  Civil  officer,  he  was  always  apt  or  did  break  the 
peace  on  several  occasions 

his 
William     X    Randall 
mark 
Witness  G  [e]  orge  W  Freeman 
Sworn  &  subscribed  before  me, 

D  E  Freeman  J  P 

[October  19,  1867] 
Affidavit  of  Elisha  J.  Tweed 

State  of  North  Carolina 
County  of  Madison 

I  Elisha  J.  Tweed  Clerk  of  the  County  Court  of  Madison  County 
certify  to  the  following  statements 

That  on  the  13th  day  of  May  1861  while  an  Ellection  was  being 
held  in  Marshall  Madison  County  North  Carolina  that  there  was 
a  greate  deal  of  excitement  about  the  Ellection  as  it  was  an  El- 
lection for  the  secession  of  the  State  and  that  one  Ransom  P. 
Merrill  the  Sheriff  of  Madison  County  N  C  as  I  was  passing  to  the 
polls-  and  had  not  spoke  a  word  to  Merrill  that  day  and  as  I  pass 
near  him  Merrill  he  presented  his  pistol  and  fired  on  me  without 
any  cause  or  provication  the  ball  strikeing  my  right  arm  above 
the  Elbow  passing  through  and  Entering  the  right  side  inflicting 
a  severe  wound  sup[p]osed  at  that  time  to  be  a  mortal  wound 
whereupon  my  Father  Neeley  Tweed  shot  Merrill  from  which 
Merrill  Died  At  the  time  Merrill  shot  me  there  was  nothing  be- 
tween me  and  Merrill  but  political  mat  [t]  ers 

Merrill  being  a  violent  Rebel  and  was  cursing  and  abuseing  one 
E  Frisby  because  he  hollowed  for  George  Washington  and  his 
Constitution  he  Merrill  had  his  pistol  drawn  and  after  Frisby  in 
the  act  of  shooting  Frisby  but  was  prevented  from  so  doing  by 
some  one  near  by  Merrill  was  curseing  and  abusing  the  crowd  in 
general  as  tories  and  Black  republicans  &C 

My  father  soon  afterwards  went  and  joined  the  Fed[e]ral  army 
in  Kentucky  I  soon  afterwards  went  to  the  fed[e]ral  army  and 
joined  the  army  me  and  my  Father  bellonged  to  the  same  com- 
pany to  wit  Co.  D.  4  Tenn  Inft  afterwards  changed  to  the  1st 
Tenn  Cavalry 

I  heard  my  Father  frequently  speak  of  the  mat  [t]  er  of  killing 
Merrill  and  he  always  said  no  one  influenced  him  in  any  way  in 
the  matter  but  killed  Merrill  of  his  own  accord  and  was  willing 
and  anxious  for  a  fair  trial  by  the  civil  laws  of  his  country  my 


268  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Father  said  to  me  that  he  had  not  saw  one  of  the  accused  or  spoke 
to  him  that  day  before  the  killing  of  Merrill  viz  M.  W.  Roberts 
my  Father  died  while  in  the  Federal  army  at  Flat  Lick  Kentucky 

I  was  afterwards  2nd  Lieutenant  Co.  D.  1st  Tenn  Cavalry  and 
remained  in  the  army  until  after  the  surrender  having  served 
three  years  and  5  months  in  the  army 

I  further  state  that  I  believe  the  prosecution  against  your 
Petitioners  J.  J.  Gudger  W.  A.  Henderson  H.  A.  Barnard  Thos.  J. 
Rector  W.  R.  McNew  &  M.  W.  Roberts  to  be  malicious  and  I 
further  state  that  owing  to  the  union  proclivities  of  your  pe- 
titioners that  they  could  not  get  justice  in  the  state  courts  as  they 
are  now  organized  and  that  the  purpose  of  the  procecutors  to  be 
that  of  gain  and  that  a  fair  and  impartial  investigation  would 
relieve  your  petitioners  from  any  further  trouble  &  cost 

Clk  of  the  County  Court 
[To  be  continued] 


NORTH  CAROLINA   BIBLIOGRAPHY,   1950-19511 
By  Mary  Lindsay  Thornton 

Bibliography  and  Libraries 

EASTERBY,  JAMES  HAROLD.  Guide  to  the  study  and  reading 

of  South  Carolina  history;  a  general  classified  bibliography. 

Columbia,  The  Historical  Commission  of  South  Carolina,  1950. 

(South  Carolina  bibliographies  no.  2)  289  p.  $2.00  pa.  Includes 

some  regional  material. 
FRIEDERICH,  WERNER  PAUL.  Bibliography  of  comparative 

literature,  by  Fernand  Baldensperger  and  Werner  P.  Friederich. 

Chapel  Hill,  1950.   (University  of  North  Carolina  studies  in 

comparative  literature  no.  1)  xxiv,  701  p.  $12.50.  Order  Richard 

Jente,  Box  537. 

Philosophy  and  Religion 

BRANNON,  CLARENCE  HAM.  An  introduction  to  the  Bible. 

[Raleigh  (?),  1951]  xi,  292  p.  $4.75. 
HENDRICKS,  GARLAND  A.  Biography  of  a  country  church. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  Broadman  Press,    [1950]   xiv,  137  p.  illus. 

$2.00. 
NASH,  ARNOLD  SAMUEL,  editor.  Protestant  thought  in  the 

twentieth  century :  whence  and  whither  ?  New  York,  The  Mac- 

millan  Company,  1951.  xii,  296  p.  $3.75. 
POTE AT,  EDWIN  McNEILL.  God  makes  the  difference ;  studies 

in  the  faith  of  nature  and  the  nature  of  faith.  New  York, 

Harper  [1951]  ix,  242  p.  $3.00. 

Economics  and  Sociology 

AMERICAN  PSYCHIATRIC  ASSOCIATION.  CENTRAL  IN- 
SPECTION BOARD.  Report  of  the  state  mental  hospitals  of 
North  Carolina.  [Raleigh?]  1950.  136  p.  tabs.  Apply  State 
Hospital,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

CHEEK,  ROMA  SAWYER.  A  preliminary  study  of  government 
management  in  North  Carolina.  Raleigh,  Office  of  the  Governor 
of  North  Carolina,  1950.  127  p.  Apply. 

CHERRY,  ROBERT  GREGG.  Public  addresses  and  papers  .  .  . 
1945-1949,  edited  by  David  Leroy  Corbitt.  Raleigh,  Council  of 
State,  1951.  lxii,  1058  p.  Apply  State  Department  of  Archives 
and  History. 

CONNERY,  ROBERT  HOUGH.  The  navy  and  the  industrial 
mobilization  in  World  War  II.  Princeton,  N.  J.,  Princeton  Uni- 
versity Press,  1951.  xi,  527  p.  $6.00. 


1  Books   dealing   with  North   Carolina  or  by   North   Carolinians   published   during  the  year 
ending  August  31st,  1951. 

[269] 


270  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

EDMONDS,  HELEN  G.  The  Negro  and  fusion  politics  in  North 
Carolina,  1894-1901.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina 
Press,  [1951]  viii,  260  p.  illus.  $5.00. 

EHRINGHAUS,  JOHN  CHRISTOPH  BLUCHER.  Addresses,  let- 
ters, and  papers  .  .  .  1933-1937,  edited  by  David  Leroy  Corbitt. 
Raleigh,  Council  of  State,  1950.  xxxi,  509  p.  ports.  Apply  State 
Department  of  Archives  and  History,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

GRAY,  GORDON.  Report  to  the  President  on  foreign  economic 
policies.  Washington,  U.  S.  Government  Printing  Office,  1950. 
vii,  131  p. 

HART,  THOMAS  ROY.  The  School  of  Textiles,  N.  C.  State  Col- 
lege ;  its  past  and  present.  [Raleigh,  North  Carolina  State  Col- 
lege Print  Shop,  1951]  230  p.  illus.  $5.00. 

HEARD,  ALEXANDER.  Southern  primaries  and  elections,  1920- 
1949  [by]  Alexander  Heard  and  Donald  S.  Strong.  University, 
Ala.,  University  of  Alabama  Press,  1950,  206  p.  $2.45. 

HOOVER,  CALVIN  BRYCE.  Economic  resources  and  policies  of 
the  South  [by]  Calvin  B.  Hoover  [and]  B.  U.  Ratchford.  New 
York,  Macmillan  Company,  [1951]  xxvii,  464  p.  $5.50. 

KNIGHT,  EDGAR  WALLACE,  editor.  Readings  in  American 
educational  history,  by  Edgar  W.  Knight  and  Clifton  L.  Hall. 
New  York,  Appleton-Century-Crofts,  [1951]  xxi,  799  p.  $4.50. 

LEWIS,  HENRY  W.  The  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina 
guidebook  of  organization  and  procedure.  Chapel  Hill,  Institute 
of  Government,  University  of  North  Carolina,  1951.  125  p. 
Apply. 

McALLISTER,  QUENTIN  OLIVER.  Business  executives  and  the 
Humanities.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Press, 
1951.  (Southern  humanities  conference  Bulletin  no.  3)  114  p. 
$1.50  pa. 

MURRAY,  PAULI,  editor.  States'  laws  on  race  and  color,  and  ap- 
pendices containing  international  documents,  federal  laws  and 
regulations,  local  ordinances  and  charts.  [Cincinnati,  Woman's 
Division  of  Christian  Service,  Board  of  Missions  and  Church 
Extension,  Methodist  Church]  1950  [i.e.  1951]  x,  746  p.  $4.00. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  UNIVERSITY.  ATHLETIC  ASSOCIA- 
TION. University  of  North  Carolina  all-time  results  in  all 
sports,  celebrating  100  Southern  Conference  championships, 
1888-1950.  [Chapel  Hill,  1951]  [48]  p.  illus.  Apply. 

ODUM,  HOWARD  WASHINGTON.  American  sociology;  the 
story  of  sociology  in  the  United  States  through  1950.  New  York, 
Longmans,  1951.  vi,  501  p.  $5.00. 

STEPHENSON,  GILBERT  THOMAS.  Your  family  and  your  es- 
tate. [New  York,  Prentice-Hall,  Inc.,  1951]  64  p.  $.88. 

U.  S.  BOARD  OF  ENGINEERS  FOR  RIVERS  AND  HARBORS. 
The  ports  of  Wilmington  and  Morehead  City,  North  Carolina 
.  .  .  Washington,  U.  S.  Government  Printing  Office,  1951.  ix, 
164  p.  illus.  Apply  U.  S.  Engineers,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WAGER,  PAUL  WOODFORD,  editor.  County  government  across 
the  nation.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Press, 
[1950]  xiii,  817  p.  illus.  $7.50. 

WAGSTAFF,  HENRY  McGILBERT.  Impressions  of  men  and 


North  Carolina  Bibliography,  1950-1951  271 

movements  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Chapel  Hill, 
University  of  North  Carolina  Press  [1950]  ix,  110  p.  $2.00. 

Philology 

LEAVITT,  STURGES  ELLENO.  Sound  Spanish  [by]  Sturgis  E. 

Leavitt  [and]  Sterling  A.  Stoudemire.  New  York,  Holt,  [1950] 

vi,  119,  xxviii  p.  $2.50. 
SHEWMAKE,  EDWIN  F.  Working  with  words:  Form  A.  New 

York,  Harper,  1951.  vi,  122  p.  $1.00  pa. 

Science 

COKER,  WILLIAMS  CHAMBERS.  The  stipitate  hydnums  of  the 
eastern  United  States,  by  William  Chambers  Coker  and  Alma 
Holland  Beers.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Press, 
1951.  viii,  211  p.  60  plates.  $5.00. 

CORRELL,  DONOVAN  STEWART.  Native  orchids  of  North 
America,  north  of  Mexico  .  .  .  Waltham,  Mass.,  Chronica 
Botanica  [1951]  (New  series  of  plant  science  books,  v.  26) 
400  p.  illus.  $7.50. 

LEE,  WALLACE.  Math  miracles.  [Durham,  Seeman  Printery, 
Inc.,  c.  1950]  [8]  83  p.  illus.  $3.00. 

PEARSE,  ARTHUR  SPERRY.  Emigration  of  animals  from  the 
sea.  Washington,  Sherwood  Press,  1951.  xii,  210  p.  illus.  $5.00. 

TAYLOR,  HARDEN  FRANKLIN  and  others.  Survey  of  marine 
fisheries  of  North  Carolina  by  Harden  F.  Taylor  and  a  staff  of 
associates.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Press, 
1951.  xii,  555  p.  illus.  $10. 

TIPPETT,  JAMES  STERLING  and  others,  editors.  Understand- 
ing science,  grades  1-4.  Philadelphia,  John  C.  Winston  Com- 
pany, 1951-  .  Published  with  various  titles,  authors,  and 
prices. 

Applied  Science  and  Useful  Arts 

GREEN,  PHILIP  PALMER,  JR.  Stream  pollution  in  North  Caro- 
lina, by  Philip  P.  Green,  Jr.,  Donald  B.  Hayman,  Ernest  W. 

Machen,  Jr.  Chapel  Hill,  Institute  of  Government,  University 

of  North  Carolina,  1951.  216  p.  Apply. 
HOFFMANN,  MARGARET  JONES.  Miss  B's  first  cookbook;  20 

family-sized  recipes  for  the  youngest  cook.  Indianapolis,  Bobbs- 

Merrill,  [1950]   [48]  p.  illus.  $1.75. 
KIRKPATRICK,  CHARLES  ATKINSON.  Salesmanship:  helping 

prospects  buy.  Cincinnati,  Southwestern  Publishing  Company, 

1951.  483  p.  illus.  $4.25. 
KRAYBILL,  EDWARD  KREADY.  Electric  circuits  for  engineers. 

New  York,  Macmillan  Company,  1951.  x,  212  p.  illus.  $3.85. 
LANDON,    CHARLES    EDWARD.    Transportation,    principles, 

practices,  problems.  New  York,  William  Sloane,  1951.  xxii,  618 

p.  maps.  $4.75. 


272  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

SEYMOUR,  FRANCES  ISABEL.  Rice,  dietary  controls  and 
blood  pressure;  with  menus  and  recipes.  New  York,  Froben 
Press,  1951.  206  p.  $2.95. 

Fine  Arts 

ORR,  LEWIS.  [Etchings :  Album  X]    [Greenville,  N.  C,  R.  L. 

Humber,  1951]  Continuation  of  a  series  of  etchings  of  historic 

North  Carolina  buildings.  Each  album  contains  5  etchings  and 

sells  for  $50. 
SANDBURG,  CARL.  Carl  Sandburg's  new  American  songbag. 

New  York,  Associated  Music  Publishers,  Inc.,  1951.  vii,  107  p. 

$2.50. 
STRINGFIELD,  LAMAR.  Georgia  Buck.  Charlotte,  N.  C,  Brodt 

Music  Company,  c.  1950.  9  p.  37  single  sheets.  $3.50. 
STRINGFIELD,  LAMAR.  Peace,  a  sacred  cantata  for  mixed 

voices.  Charlotte,  N.  C,  Brodt  Music  Company,  1950.  36  p. 

$1.25. 
STRINGFIELD,  MARGARET.  "Occoneechee"  fair  maid  of  the 

forest;  a  Cherokee  operetta  in  three  acts.  Waynesville,  N.  C, 

Author,  [1950?]   [11]  60  p.  $2.50. 

Poetry 

BARKER,  ADDISON.  The  magpie's  nest.  Mill  Valley,  Calif., 

Wings  Press,  1950.  56  p.  $2.00. 
BROCKMAN,  ZOE  KINCAID.  Heart  on  my  sleeve.  Atlanta,  Ga., 

Banner  Press,  Emory  University,  [c.  1951]  73  p.  $2.00. 
BURT,  NATHANIEL.  Question  on  a  kite.  New  York,  Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  1950.  43  p.  $2.00. 
DAVIS,  HANNAH  (BARHAM).  Heartleaves.  Warrenton,  N.  C. 

The  Author,  [1951?]    [10]  116  p.  Order  Author,  Warrenton, 

N.  C. 
EATON,  CHARLES  EDWARD.  The  shadow  of  the  swimmer. 

New  York,  Fine  Editions  Press,  1951.  88  p.  $3.00. 
HANES,   FRANK  BORDEN.   Abel  Anders,  a  narrative.   New 

York,  Farrar,  Straus  and  Young,  [1951]  209  p.  $2.75. 
HARDEN,   EARL  LOUIS.  Rhythmical  treasure.   Macon,   Ga., 

J.  W.  Burke  Company,  [1950]  xiii,  99  p.  $1.75. 
JONES,  GILMER  ANDREW.  Songs  from  the  hills.  [Franklin? 

N.  C,  Author,  1950]  57  p. 
KETCHUM,  EVERETT  PHOENIX.  George  Washington's  vision 

and  other  poems  ...  by  Everett  Phoenix  Ketchum  and  Lillian 

Floyd  Ketchum.  Asheville,  N.  C,  Inland  Press,  [1950]  64  p. 

illus.  $5.00. 
KING,  MARIE  HALBERT.  Call  to  remembrance.  [San  Antonio, 

Texas,  Carleton  Printing  Company  for  the  Author]  c.  1951. 

74  p. 
LOVELAND,  CHARLES  WELLING.  The  mountain  men  and 

other  poems.  [Shelby,  N.  C,  Author,  1950]  68  p.  $2.50. 


North  Carolina  Bibliography,  1950-1951  273 

NORDEN,  LAURA  (HOWELL).  On  upward  flight.  New  York, 
Exposition  Press,  [1951]  47  p.  $1.50. 

PINGEL,  MARTHA  M.  Catalyst;  an  interpretation  of  life.  New 
York,  Exposition  Press,  1951.  64  p.  $2.00. 

PRICE,  MERLE.  The  heart  has  its  daybreak.  Emory  University, 
Ga.,  Banner  Press,  [1950]  60  p.  $2.00. 

SMEDES,  HENRIETTA  RHEA.  In  many  moods,  verses  by  Henri- 
»etta  R.  Smedes  and  John  Esten  Cooke  Smedes.  New  York,  Ex- 
position Press,  [c.  1951]  96  p.  port.  $2.50. 

WALTON,  MARY  ETHEL.  Words  have  breath,  poems.  Philadel- 
phia, Dorrance  and  Company,  Inc.,  [1951]  127  p.  $2.50. 

Drama 

GREEN,  PAUL  ELIOT.  The  common  glory  song  book,  songs, 
hymns,  dances  and  other  music  from  Paul  Green's  symphonic 
drama  .  .  .  edited  by  Adeline  McCall.  New  York,  Carl  Fischer, 
c.  1951.  47  p. 

GREEN,  PAUL  ELIOT.  Peer  Gynt,  by  Henrik  Ibsen.  American 
version  by  Paul  Green.  New  York,  Samuel  French,  Inc.,  [1951] 
167  p.  $2.50. 

HUNTER,  KERMIT.  Unto  these  hills;  a  drama  of  the  Cherokee. 
[Chapel  Hill]  University  of  North  Carolina  Press  [1951]  100 
p.  illus.  $2.00. 

SPECK,  FRANK  GOULDSMITH.  Cherokee  dance  and  drama  by 
Frank  G.  Speck  and  Leonard  Bloom.  Berkeley,  Calif.,  Univer- 
sity of  California  Press,  1951.  xv,  106  p.  illus.  $2.50  pa. 

Fiction2 

BLYTHE,  LE  GETTE.  A  tear  for  Judas.  Indianapolis,  Bobbs- 

Merrill  Company,  Inc.,  [1951]  338  p.  $3.50. 
DARBY,  ADA  CLAIRE.  Island  girl.  Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippin- 

cott  Company,  1951.  vii,  215  p.  $2.75. 
DAVIS,  BURKE.  The  ragged  ones.  New  York,  Rinehart  and  Com- 
pany, [1951]  336  p.  illus.  $3.50. 
HENRI,   FLORETTE.   Kings  Mountain.   Garden   City,   N.   Y., 

Doubleday  and  Company,  Inc.,  1950.  viii,  340  p.  $3.00. 
IRWIN,  LAETITIA.  The  golden  hammock.  Boston,  Little,  Brown 

and  Company,  1951.  373  p.  $3.00. 
MILLER,  HELEN   (TOPPING).  The  horns  of  Capricorn.  New 

York,  Appleton-Century-Crofts,  Inc.,  [1950]  282  p.  $3.00. 
OUTTERSON,  LESLIE  A.  Unto  the  hills,  a  novel.  New  York, 

Vantage  Press,  [1950]  216  p.  $3.00. 
ROGERS,  LETTIE  (HAMLETT).  The  storm  cloud.  New  York, 

Random  House,  [1951]  309  p.  $3.00. 
ROSS,  FRED  E.  Jackson  Mahaffey,  a  novel.  Boston,  Houghton 

Mifflin  Company,  [c.  1951]  308  p. 
SLAUGHTER,  FRANK  GILL.  Fort  Everglades.  Garden  City, 

N.  Y.,  Doubleday  and  Company,  1951.  340  p.  $3.00. 

2  By  a  North  Carolinian  or  with  the  scene  laid  in  North  Carolina. 


274  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

SLAUGHTER,  FRANK  GILL.  The  road  to  Bithynia,  a  novel  of 

Luke,  the  beloved  physician.  Garden  City,  N.  Y.,  Doubleday  and 

Company,  1951.  330  p.  $3.50. 
STREET,  JAMES  HOWELL.  The  high  calling.   Garden  City, 

N.  Y.,  Doubleday  and  Company,  1951.  308  p.  $3.00. 
TIPPETT,  JAMES  STERLING.  Tools  for  Andy;  pictures  by  Kay 

Draper.  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Abingdon-Cokesbury  Press,  1951.  47 

p.  $1.50.  Juvenile. 

Literature  Other  Than  Poetry,  Drama,  or  Fiction 

BIERCK,  HAROLD  A.,  JR.,  editor.  Selected  writings  of  Simon 
Bolivar;  compiled  by  Vicente  Lecuna,  edited  by  Harold  A. 
Bierck,  Jr.,  translation  by  Lewis  Bertrand.  New  York,  Colonial 
Press  1951.  2  v. 

BRINKLEY,  ROBERTA  FLORENCE,  editor.  English  prose  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  New  York,  W.  W.  Norton  and  Com- 
pany, 1951.  xii,  919  p.  $4.00. 

CLARK,  JOSEPH  DEADRICK.  Handbook  of  English,  speaking 
reading,  writing,  by  Joseph  D.  Clark,  Philip  H.  Davis,  and  A. 
Bernard  Shelley.  Boston,  Ginn  and  Company,  1951.  viii,  487  p. 
$3.00. 

COENEN,  FREDERIC  EDWARD.  Franz  Grillparzer's  portraiture 
of  men.  Chapel  Hill,  [University  of  North  Carolina]  1951.  (Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  Studies  in  the  Germanic  languages 
and  literatures,  no.  4)  xii,  135  p.  $2.50. 

LEARY,  LEWIS  GASTON.  The  literary  career  of  Nathaniel 
Tucker,  1750-1807.  Durham,  N.  C,  Duke  University  Press, 
1951.  (Historical  papers  of  the  Trinity  College  Historical  So- 
ciety, ser.  29)  ix,  108  p.  $2.75. 

LOUTHAN,  DONIPHAN.  The  poetry  of  John  Donne;  an  expli- 
cation. New  York,  Bookman  Associates,  [c.  1951]  193  p.  $3.50. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  UNIVERSITY.  Studies  in  Mediaeval  cul- 
ture dedicated  to  George  Raleigh  Coffman.  [Chapel  Hill,  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  Press,  1951]  (Studies  in  philology. 
July,  1951,  v.  48,  no.  3)  696  p. 

SHUTE,  JOHN  RAYMOND.  The  Seer,  his  parables  and  tales. 
Monroe,  N.  C,  Nocalore  Press,  1950.  94  p.  illus.  $1.00. 

ULLMAN,  BERTHOLD  L.,  editor.  Colucci  Salutati  De  Laboribus 
Herculis.  Zurich,  Switzerland,  "Thesaurus  Mundi"  (publish- 
er) ,  1951.  Two  volumes,  paged  continuously,  XIV,  660  p.  Vol.  I, 
xiv,  1-352  p.;  Vol.  II,  353-660  p.  American  agent,  Philip  C. 
Duschnes,  66  East  56  St.,  New  York. 

WALTON,  LORING  BAKER.  Anatole  France  and  the  Greek 
world.  Durham,  N.  C,  Duke  University  Press,  1950.  ix,  334  p. 
$6.00. 


North  Carolina  Bibliography,  1950-1951  275 

Genealogy 

BROCKMANN,  CHARLES  RAVEN.  Adams,  Caruthers,  Clancy, 
Neely,  and  Townsend  descendants  composing  the  Adams,  Leg- 
erton,  Wakefield,  Brockmann,  and  other  twentieth  century 
families  of  the  Carolinas.  Charlotte,  N.  C,  The  Author,  1950. 
118  p.  illus.  $8.50. 

BROUGHTON,  CARRIE  L.,  compiler.  Marriage  and  death  notices 
in  Raleigh  register  and  North  Carolina  state  gazette,  1856- 
1867.  [Raleigh,  The  State  Library,  1950]  537-613  p.  A  con- 
tinuation of  earlier  indices  covering  the  years,  1799-1855. 
Apply. 

[BUIE,  ROBERT  BERNARD.]  The  Scotch  family  Buie.  No  place, 
privately  printed,  [1950]  [80]  p.  illus.  Apply  Author,  Box  1146, 
Stamford,  Conn. 

HOLT,  EUGENE.  Edwin  Michael  Holt  and  his  descendants,  1807- 
1948.  [Richmond,  Va.,  privately  printed,  1949]  xv,  221  p.  illus. 
Apply  Mrs.  Ivor  Massey,  2  Oak  Lane,  Richmond,  Va. 

KELLAM,  IDA  (BROOKS).  Brooks  and  kindred  families.  [Wil- 
mington? N.  C]  1950.  384  p.  illus.  Order  from  Author,  219  S. 
3rd  St.,  Wilmington,  N.  C.  $7.50. 

LORE,  ADELAIDE  McKINNON.  The  Morrison  family  of  the 
Rocky  River  settlement  of  North  Carolina;  history  and  gene- 
alogy, by  Adelaide  and  Eugenia  Lore  and  Robert  Hall  Morrison. 
[Charlotte?  N.  C,  1950]  543  p.  illus.  $10. 

McBEE,  MAY  WILSON,  compiler.  Anson  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, abstracts  of  early  records.  [Greenwood,  Miss.,  The  Com- 
piler, c.  1950]  vii,  180  p.  $11. 

McLEAN,  HARRY  HERNDON.  The  Wilson  family,  Somerset 
and  Barter  Hill  branch.  Washington,  N.  C,  The  Author,  [c. 
1950]  102  p.  illus.  Order  from  the  Author,  Box  716,  Washing- 
ton, N.  C.  $5.00. 

RAY,  WORTH  STICKLEY.  Tennessee  cousins;  a  history  of  Ten- 
nessee people.  Austin,  Tex.  [1950]  viii,  811  p.  illus.  $20. 

SONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION.  NORTH  CARO- 
LINA SOCIETY.  Lineage  book  of  past  and  present  members. 
[Raleigh]  The  Society,  1951.  vi,  322  p.  $5.00.  Order  W.  A. 
Parker,  1522  Jarvis  St.,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

WYATT,  WILBUR  CARL.  Families  of  Joseph  and  Isaac  Wyatt, 
brothers,  who  were  sons  of  Zachariah  ("Sacker")  and  Elizabeth 
(Ripley)  Wyatt,  of  Durant's  Neck,  Perquimans  County,  North 
Carolina  .  .  .  Washington,  c.  1950.  206  p.  illus.  Apply  Compiler, 
5716  16th  St.,  N.  W.,  Washington  11,  D.  C. 

History  and  Travel 

BAILEY,  BERNADINE  (FREEMAN).  Picture  book  of  North 
Carolina.  Pictures  by  Kurt  Wiese.  Chicago,  Albert  Whitman 
and  Company,  c.  1950.  [28]  p.  illus.  $1.00.  Juvenile. 

BAITY,  ELIZABETH  (CHESLEY).  Americans  before  Colum- 
bus; illustrated  with  drawings  and  maps  by  C.  B.  Falls  and 
32  p.  of  photos.  New  York,  Viking  Press,  1951.  256  p.  illus. 
$4.00.  Juvenile. 


276  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

DULA,  WILLIAM  C,  editor.  Durham  and  her  people,  combining 
history  and  who's  who  in  Durham  of  1949  and  1950  .  .  .  Dur- 
ham, N.  C,  Citizens  Press,  1951.  295  [7]  p.  illus.  $5.00. 

GRIFFIN,  CLARENCE.  Essays  on  North  Carolina  history. 
Forest  City,  N.  C,  Forest  City  Courier,  1951.  xv,  284  p.  illus. 
$4.25. 

HAMLIN,  TALBOT  FAULKNER.  We  took  to  cruising;  from 
Maine  to  Florida  afloat  [by]  Talbot  and  Jessica  Hamlin.  New 
York,  Sheridan  House,  [1951]  320  p.  illus.  $3.50. 

LAZENBY,  MARY  ELINOR.  Catawba  frontier,  1775-1781 ;  mem- 
ories of  pensioners.  Washington,  1950.  ix,  109  p.  $2.00. 

OATES,  JOHN  A.  The  story  of  Fayetteville  and  the  upper  Cape 
Fear.  [Fayetteville,  The  Author,  c.  1950]  xxxi,  868  p.  illus. 
$10.00. 

PATTON,  SADIE  SMATHERS.  Sketches  of  Polk  County  history. 
[Hendersonville,  N.  C.  The  Author,  c.  1950]  xiv,  161  p.  illus. 
$5.00. 

WOLFE,  THOMAS.  A  western  journal ;  a  daily  log  of  the  great 
parks  trip,  June  20-July  2,  1938.  [Pittsburgh]  University  of 
Pittsburgh  Press,  1951.  x,  72  p.  illus.  $2.00. 

Autobiography  and  Biography 

ADAMS,  AGATHA  BOYD.  Paul  Green  of  Chapel 'Hill.  Chapel 
Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Library,  1951.  vii,  116  p. 
port.  $1.00  pa.,  $2.50  bound. 

BAKER,  NINA  (BROWN).  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  New  York,  Har- 
court,  Brace  and  Company,  [1950]  191  p.  $2.50.  Juvenile. 

BECKER,  KATE  HARBES.  Paul  Hamilton  Hayne:  Life  and  let- 
ters. Belmont,  N.  C,  Outline  Company,  1951.  xi,  145  p.  $3.50. 

BRINK,  WELLINGTON.  Big  Hugh,  the  father  of  soil  conserva- 
tion ;  with  a  preface  by  Louis  Bromfield.  New  York,  Macmillan 
Company,  1951.  xii,  167  p.  port.  $2.75. 

BROOKS,  AUBREY  LEE.  A  southern  lawyer,  fifty  years  at  the 
bar.  Chapel  Hill,  University  of  North  Carolina  Press,  [1950] 
viii,  214  p.  $3.50. 

BURLINGTON,  N.  C,  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE.  Builders 
of  Alamance.  Burlington,  N.  C,  1951.  69  p.  illus.  Apply  The 

DANIELS,  JONATHAN*.  The  man  of  Independence.3  Philadel- 
phia, J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  [1950]  384  p.  $3.75. 

DE  GRUMMOND,  JANE  LUCAS.  Envoy  to  Caracas;  the  story 
of  John  G.  A.  Williamson,  nineteenth-century  diplomat.  Baton 
Rouge,  Louisiana  State  University  Press,  [1951]  xx,  228  p. 
illus.  $3.75. 

GIBSON,  JOHN  MENDINGHALL.  Physician  to  the  world;  the 
life  of  General  William  C.  Gorgas.  Durham,  N.  C,  Duke  Uni- 
versity Press,  1950.  ix,  315  p.  illus.  $4.50. 


8  Winner  of  Mayflower  award,  1951. 


North  Carolina  Bibliography,  1950-1951  277 

HOCUTT,  HILLIARD  MANLY.  Struggling  upward;  a  brief  story 

of  the  upward  struggle  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  J.  D.  Hocutt  and  their 

fourteen  children  of  Burgaw,   North  Carolina,  with  special 

emphasis  upon  the  record  of  the  family  in  Christian  education. 

[Asheville,  N.  C,  The  Author,  1951]  76  p.  illus.  Apply  Author, 

112  Belmont  Ave.,  Asheville,  N.  C.  pa. 
MANGUM,  WILLIE  PERSON.  Papers,  edited  by  Henry  Thomas 

Shanks.  Raleigh,  N.  C,  State  Department  of  Archives  and 

History,  1950-         .  v.  1,  illus.  Apply. 
PASCHAL,  JOEL  FRANCIS.  Mr.  Justice  Sutherland,  a  man 

against  the  state.  Princeton,  Princeton  University  Press,  1951. 

xii,  267  p.  port.  $4.00. 
POUND,  MERRITT  BLOODWORTH.  Benjamin  Hawkins,  Indian 

agent.  Athens,  Ga.,  University  of  Georgia  Press,  [c.  1951]  ix, 

270  p.  $4.00. 
REYNOLDS,  QUENTIN  JAMES.  The  Wright  brothers,  pioneers 

of  American  aviation ;  illustrated  by  Jacob  Landau.  New  York, 

Random  House,  [1950]  183  p.  illus.  $1.50.  Juvenile. 
SHIPP,  CAMERON  (with  LIONEL  BARRYMORE) .  We  Barry- 

moores  ...  as  told  to  Cameron  Shipp.  New  York,  Appleton- 

Century-Crofts,  Inc.,  1951.  296  p.  $3.50. 
SLAUGHTER,  FRANK  GILL.  Immortal  Magyar:  Semmelweis, 

conqueror  of  childbed  fever.  New  York,  Henry  Schuman,  1950. 

(Life  of  scientists  library,  no.  15)  211  p.  illus.  $3.50. 
TIPPETT,  JAMES  STERLING.  Abraham  Lincoln,  humble  and 

great.  Chicago,  Beckley-Cardy  Company,  1951.  (Forever  great 

series)  154  p.  $1.48.  Juvenile. 
TREASE,  GEOFFREY.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  captain  &  adventurer. 

New  York,  Vanguard  Press  [1950]  248  p.  $2.50.  Juvenile. 
WRIGHT,  WILBUR.  Miracle  at  Kitty  Hawk;  the  letters  of  Wil- 
bur and  Orville  Wright,  edited  by  Fred  C.  Kelly.  New  York, 

Farrar,  Straus  and  Young  [1951]  ix,  482  p.  illus.  $6.00. 

New  Edition  and  Reprints 

CELL,  JOHN  WESLEY.  Analytic  geometry.  2nd  ed.  New  York, 

John  Wiley,  1951.  xii,  326  p.  $3.75. 
COULTER,  ELLIS  MERTON.  College  life  in  the  old  South.  2nd 

ed.  Athens,  Ga.,  University  of  Georgia  Press,  1951.  xiii,  320  p. 

illus.  $4.50. 
FLETCHER,  INGLIS.  Roanoke  Hundred.  London,  Hutchinson 

and  Company,  1951.  284  p.  6  s. 
FLETCHER,  INGLIS.  The  young  commissioner,  a  tale  of  the 

African  bush.  London,  Hutchinson  and  Company,  1951.  264 

p.  6  s. 
KNIGHT,  EDGAR  WALLACE.  Education  in  the  United  States. 

3rd  rev.  ed.  Boston,  Ginn  and  Company,  1951.  xvi,  753,  xiv  p. 

illus.  $4.50. 
WALDMAN,  MILTON.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  Toronto,  Canada, 

William  Collins  Sons  and  Company,  1950.  $2.00. 


BOOK  REVIEWS 

The  Negro  and  Fusion  Politics  in  North  Carolina,  1894-1901.  By  Helen  G. 
Edmonds.  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North  Carolina  Press.  1951. 
Pp.  viii,  260.  $5.00.) 

To  the  growing  shelf  of  studies  on  southern  politics  Dr.  Ed- 
monds who  is  professor  of  history  at  North  Carolina  College  at 
Durham  has  added  a  scholarly  and  interesting  book  on  a  highly 
controversial  period  in  the  history  of  this  state.  After  explaining 
some  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  studying  the  Fusion  years, 
the  author  proceeds  to  compare  the  Democratic  and  Republican 
parties  as  they  faced  each  other  between  1876  and  1896.  A  con- 
servatively controlled  Democratic  party  continuously  dominated 
the  state  government,  but,  as  such  leaders  as  Vance  and  Ransom 
dropped  out,  new  "liberal  agrarian  anti-monopoly"  spokesmen 
such  as  Josephus  Daniels,  Walter  Clark,  and  L.  L.  Polk  began  to 
contest  the  Bourbon  leadership.  Confronting  the  Democrats  was 
a  strong  Republican  party,  which  received  between  forty  and 
forty-nine  per  cent  of  the  vote  in  forty-seven  counties  and  regu- 
larly carried  twenty-six  counties,  ten  in  the  west  (where  the 
party  remains  strong)  and  the  rest  in  the  north  central  and 
eastern  portions  of  the  state,  where  the  Negro  population  was 
high.  Such  was  the  situation  in  1890.  By  1901,  the  turmoil  of 
the  intervening  decade  had  resulted  in  the  reduction  of  Republi- 
can strength,  largely  because  of  the  almost  total  exclusion  of  the 
Negro  from  politics,  and  in  the  consequent  inauguration  of  a 
period  of  Democratic  rule  that  has  already  lasted  half  a  century. 
Dr.  Edmonds's  book  clarifies  the  circumstances  that  produced 
this  striking  result. 

By  1890  the  plight  of  the  farmers  in  North  Carolina,  as  else- 
where in  the  nation,  produced  strong  farm  organizations,  notably 
the  Farmers'  Alliance,  brought  such  new  leaders  into  the  field 
as  L.  L.  Polk  and  Marion  Butler,  and,  in  the  end,  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Populist  party.  The  showing  made  by  the  new 
party  in  1892  indicated  that  if  it  were  to  join  hands  with  the  Re- 
publicans, the  Democratic  party  could  be  overcome.  Such  was,  in 
essence,  the  course  followed  successfully  by  the  two  minorities  in 

1894  and  1896  with  the  result  that  the  General  Assemblies  of 

1895  and  1897  were  controlled  by  Fusion  majorities,  while  a 
Republican,  Daniel  L.  Russell,  occupied  the  Executive  Mansion 
from  1897  to  1901. 

[  278  ] 


Book  Reviews  279 

Fusion  of  Populists  and  Republicans  was  possible  largely  be- 
cause the  economic  and  political  reforms  desired  by  the  two 
groups  were  harmonious.  Dr.  Edmonds  devotes  some  attention 
to  the  efforts  to  achieve  these  reforms,  giving  an  entire  chapter 
to  the  Fusion  election  laws  of  1895  and  1897,  but  she  is  concerned 
primarily  with  the  position  of  the  Negro  in  the  Fusion  movement 
and  with  the  bitter  and  ultimately  successful  fight  greatly  to 
reduce  his  share  in  state  and  local  government.  Populists,  most  of 
whom  were  dissatisfied  Democrats,  in  cooperating  with  Republi- 
cans found  themselves  working  with  a  party  whose  majority  was 
reputably  Negro  and  may  have  been  so  in  fact.  The  Fusion  vic- 
tories of  1894  and  1896  necessarily  increased  Negro  participation 
in  politics,  and  the  author  devotes  three  very  interesting  chapters 
to  Negro  officeholders.  She  treats  with  understanding  and  in  de- 
tail many  such  officials  as  George  H.  White  (congressman) ,  John 
C.  Dancy  (collector  of  customs  at  Wilmington) ,  James  H.  Young, 
William  H.  Crews,  Isaac  Smith,  J.  H.  Wright  (four  state  legisla- 
tors), Dr.  James  E.  Shepard  (subsequently  president  of  North 
Carolina  College),  and  Thomas  S.  Eaton  (register  of  deeds  in 
Vance  County).  Although  Negro  politicians  revealed  a  high  de- 
gree of  race  consciousness,  the  author  shows  that  many  of  them 
possessed  above  average  qualifications  and  that  they  generally 
conducted  themselves  properly. 

The  political  spurt  that  Fusion  gave  the  Negro  proved  the 
combination's  weakest  spot,  for  many  Populists  were  opposed  to 
Negro  participation  in  government  and  were  therefore  ready 
to  give  credence  to  the  cry  of  "Negro  domination."  From  the 
Frederick  Douglass  resolution  and  the  Abe  Middleton  affair  of 
the  1895  General  Assembly  through  the  "white  supremacy" 
campaign  of  1898  and  the  ultimate  Democratic  recapture  of  the 
entire  state  government  in  the  election  of  1900,  the  race  question 
steadily  became  more  prominent  in  the  tactics  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  Dr.  Edmonds's  account  of  the  campaign  against  the 
Negro  shows  how  potent  the  race  issue  was  in  the  politics  of 
the  period.  The  Wilmington  race  riot  of  November,  1898,  is  de- 
scribed with  objectivity  and  fullness  of  detail.  Much  food  for 
thought  will  be  found  in  the  chapters  on  the  Democratic  legis- 
lature of  1899,  which  proposed  disfranchising  changes  in  the 
state  constitution,  and  on  the  campaign  of  1900,  which  saw 
Fusion  ended  and  disfranchisement  achieved. 


280  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

It  was  no  easy  task  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  suffrage 
amendment  in  1900.  As  the  campaign  progressed,  resistance  be- 
came strong  in  the  western  counties  where  the  illiteracy  rate  was 
high  and  Negroes  were  few.  It  became  increasingly  apparent  that 
not  even  the  "grandfather  clause"  would  save  large  numbers  of 
whites  from  disfranchisement.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that 
Charles  B.  Aycock,  the  Democratic  gubernatorial  candidate,  cam- 
paigning in  the  western  counties,  began  to  put  main  emphasis 
on  his  plan  to  devote  the  forthcoming  administration  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  illiteracy  in  North  Carolina.  Aycock  and  the  amendment 
both  won,  and,  as  Hugh  T.  Lefler  has  said,  "a  new  day  dawned 
for  [public]  education"  in  North  Carolina. 

Dr.  Edmonds's  extensive  bibliography  includes  a  list  of  per- 
sonal interviews  and  her  index  is  adequate.  The  maps  and  charts, 
which  are  integrated  with  the  text,  and  the  statistical  data  and 
documentary  material,  which  make  up  the  appendix,  add  greatly 
to  the  book.  Taken  all  in  all,  The  Negro  and  Fusion  Politics  should 
prove  a  valuable  reference  tool  for  scholars  and  rewarding  read- 
ing for  any  person  interested  in  the  history  and  politics  of  North 
Carolina  and  the  South. 

Preston  W.  Edsall. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 
Raleigh. 


The  Negro  and  the  Communist  Party.  By  Wilson  Record.  (Chapel  Hill:  The 
University  of  North  Carolina  Press.  1951.  Pp.  x,  340.  $3.50.) 

In  this  book,  Texas-born  Wilson  Record1  provides  a  careful, 
detailed,  and  straight-forward  account  of  the  unsuccessful  efforts 
of  the  Communist  party  to  gain  the  support  of  the  American 
Negro  and  utilize  him  in  building  up  power  here  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  world.  To  those  who  know  the  nature  and  techniques 
of  Communism  but  lack  familiarity  with  the  country's  principal 
race  problem  and  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  Negro  protest 
without  having  a  corresponding  acquaintance  with  Communism, 
Record's  account  offers  a  way  to  more  rounded  understanding. 
For  those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  both  Communism  and  the 
Negro  protest,  the  book  goes  far  toward  providing  a  working 


1  Educated  at  Texas  Wesleyan  and  the  Universities  of  North  Carolina  and  Texas,  Mr.  Record 
has  had  experience  in  the  labor  movement  and  with  the  Federal  government.  He  received  a 
Rosenwald  grant  in  1947  and  now  teaches  sociology  at  San  Francisco  State  College. 


Book  Reviews  281 

knowledge  of  both  and  of  their  many  organizations  and  leaders. 
While  the  volume  lacks  a  bibliography,  it  is  thoroughly  docu- 
mented and  has  a  moderately  adequate  index. 

Mr.  Record  begins  by  putting  the  Negro  question  into  historical 
perspective  and  contemporary  context.  It  is  interesting  that  both 
the  Socialist  party  and  the  Communist  party  with  its  Kremlin- 
dominated  leadership  have  failed  to  capture  extensive  Negro 
support,  though  for  fundamentally  different  reasons.  Whereas 
Socialists  persisted  in  offering  Negroes  only  what  they  tendered 
wage-earners  generally  ("We  have  nothing  special  to  offer  the 
Negro,"  Debs  declared),  Communists  saw  America's  Negroes 
as  a  large  down-trodden  minority  of  potentially  political  value 
and  international  usefulness,  and  therefore  offered  much  in 
domestic  programs,  organization  work,  and  leadership  oppor- 
tunity, but  did  so  without  really  comprehending  the  Negro's 
immediate  concerns  or  ultimate  goals.  Consistency,  moreover, 
has  not  characterized  the  general  conduct  of  the  American  Com- 
munist party  and  was  strikingly  absent  from  its  dealings  with 
the  Negro.  This  lack  of  consistency  has  arisen  in  main  from  the 
fact  that  the  party  has  been  obliged  to  conform  to  a  frequently 
changing,  Moscow-dictated  "party  line"  laid  down  by  a  series 
of  international  congresses.  Mr.  Record  devotes  six  information- 
packed  chapters  to  tracing  the  tortuous  course  of  the  "party 
line,"  showing  how  it  affected  all  aspects  of  the  party's  effort 
to  win  Negro  support  and  control  Negro  action.  Space  does  not 
permit  an  adequate  summary  of  the  complicated  but  clearly  pre- 
sented story  these  chapters  tell;  their  titles  must  suffice:  "The 
Early  Pattern  of  Red  and  Black,  1919-1928";  "The  Kremlin 
Sociologists  and  the  Black  Republic,  1928-1935";  "Build  the 
Negro  People's  United  Front,  1935-1939";  "This  Is  Not  the 
Negro's  War,  1939-1941";  "All  Out  for  the  War  of  National 
Liberation,  1941-1945";  "American  Negroes!  Stop  Wall  Street 
Imperialism,  1945-1950."  Finally,  in  a  concluding  chapter,  "Red 
and  Black:  Unblending  Colors,"  the  author  offers  a  very  wise 
analysis  and  a  body  of  conclusions  that  add  value  to  the  book. 

Mr.  Record  does  not  allow  the  failure  of  the  Communist  party 
to  gain  general  Negro  support  to  obscure  certain  positive  results 
of  Communist  action.  Such  protest  organizations  as  the  National 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Colored  People  and  the  Na- 


282  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

tional  Urban  League,  while  successful  in  escaping  Communist 
domination,  have  nevertheless  been  forced  to  "initiate  changes 
in  their  policies  and  programs"  in  order  to  maintain  their  leader- 
ship in  the  Negro  protest  movement.  A  number  of  prominent 
Negro  leaders,  writers,  and  intellectuals  have  been  attracted  to 
the  Communist  cause,  and  the  Party  has  had  its  impact  on  the 
Negro  press,  on  the  trade  union  movement,  and,  indeed,  on  our 
major  political  parties,  particularly  where  civil  rights  issues  are 
at  stake. 

Why  have  three  decades  of  Communist  effort  failed  to  make 
more  than  a  handful  of  Negro  converts?  (Record  estimates  the 
maximum  number  at  8,000.)  The  answer  is  that  the  party  has 
blundered  in  various  ways,  particularly  in  analyzing  the  Negro's 
aspirations.  He  does  not  want  a  sovietized  America ;  he  does  not 
want  either  an  independent  national  existence  or  separate  state- 
hood in  the  American  union;  he  does  not  care  for  "the  Party's 
umbilical  attachment  to  the  Kremlin."  He  wants  equality  of  op- 
portunity in  democratic  America.  "Negroes  in  the  United  States," 
Record  declares,  "have  had  plenty  of  provocation  to  revolt.  But 
they  have  chosen  to  protest  within  the  constitutional  framework. 
.  .  .  And  because  the  aspirations  of  the  American  Negro  are  es- 
sentially egalitarian,  a  'bourgeois'  document  like  the  American 
Constitution  has  a  liberating  potential  in  the  Black  Belt  of  Ala- 
bama and  in  the  ghetto  of  Harlem  that  the  Communist  Manifesto 
could  never  hope  to  have."  We  make  a  serious  mistake,  Record 
argues,  in  identifying  "organized  discontent  with  an  alien  ideol- 
ogy" ;  instead  we  should  realize  that  "America  has  a  great  weapon 
against  Communism  among  racial  and  ethnic  minorities."  This 
weapon  is  the  Constitution,  and  "we  would  do  well  to  apply  its 
equalitarian  potentials." 

Preston  W.  Edsall. 

North  Carolina  State  College, 
Raleigh. 


Durham  and  Her  People.  By  W.  C.  Dula  and  A.  C.  Simpson.  (Durham:  The 
Citizens  Press.  1951.  Pp.  297.  $4.95.) 

As  explained  in  the  preface,  this  book  is  not  an  orthodox  his- 
tory. It  is  rather  a  personalized  history,  written  primarily  to 


Book  Reviews  283 

preserve  the  story  of  Durham  and  her  people,  with  special  at- 
tention to  present-day  facts  and  details  that  would  never  be  re- 
corded in  an  orthodox  history. 

There  are  twenty-four  headings  in  the  table  of  contents,  but 
the  volume  has  only  two  general  divisions.  First,  there  are  brief 
sketches  of  many  phases  of  the  business  and  social  life  of  Dur- 
ham, including  origin,  story  of  tobacco  and  the  tobacco  industry, 
public  utilities,  insurance  companies,  churches,  schools,  and 
others.  The  second  division,  roughly  four-fifths  of  the  pages,  is  a 
who's  who  of  about  550  individuals  and  business  establishments 
in  Durham  at  the  present  time. 

The  authors  have  written  a  book  especially  useful  and  valuable 
to  business-men  who  are  seeking  new  areas  in  which  they  might 
expand  their  field  of  operation.  Although  lacking  in  critical 
evaluations  and  weak  in  general  organization  of  materials,  it 
records  facts  upon  facts  which  clearly  prove  the  City  of  Durham 
to  be  a  most  remarkable  success  story  that  is  both  inspirational 
and  informative.  Durham  is  symbolic  of  the  New  South. 

If  there  is  a  central  theme  in  the  book,  it  is  growth.  Whether 
the  town  itself,  the  large  and  small  corporations,  the  schools 
and  churches,  or  the  great  tobacco  industry,  they  have  all 
started  humbly  and  grown  magnificently.  "The  Golden  Weed," 
the  authors  point  out,  is  the  foundation  of  Durham's  wealth. 

The  volume  is  attractively  printed  and  has  an  adequate  index. 

D.  J.  Whitener. 

Appalachian  State  Teachers  College, 
Boone. 


Survey  of  Marine  Fisheries  of  North  Carolina.  By  Harden  F.  Taylor  and  a 
Staff  of  Associates.  (Chapel  Hill:  University  of  North  Carolina  Press. 
1951.  Pp.  xii,  555.  $10.00.) 

Survey  of  Marine  Fisheries  of  North  Carolina  is  the  first  criti- 
cal analysis  of  local  fisheries  which  has  been  carried  out  and 
published  by  a  state  government. 

The  subject  is  introduced  by  a  description  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina marine  waters  by  Dr.  Nelson  Marshall.  The  complex  nature 
of  the  waters  is  explained,  with  information  on  currents,  tem- 
peratures, salinities,  and  nutrients  supplemented  by  charts  and 
graphs.  He  suggests  that  greater  yields  might  be  obtained  by 


284  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

utilizing  animals  low  in  the  food  chain.  Part  II  covers  a  discussion 
of  the  marine  commercial  species. 

The  section  on  menhaden  by  William  A.  Ellison,  Jr.,  which  is 
the  next  topic  covered,  is  based  on  limited  reports,  many  pub- 
lished before  1910.  Mr.  Ellison  discusses  migrations  but  concedes 
that  extensive  tagging  experiments  must  be  undertaken.  Most 
of  his  presentation,  however,  is  written  as  though  migration 
routes  had  been  worked  out  carefully. 

Mr.  Roelofs  does  a  creditable  job  of  condensing  information  on 
edible  finfishes.  He  stresses  the  need  for  research  and  feels  that 
with  present  facts  it  is  impossible  to  tell  whether  a  given  species 
is  being  fully  utilized. 

The  oyster  and  other  mollusks  are  covered  adequately  by  A.  F. 
Chestnut.  He  shows  that  mollusk  culture  can  be  profitable  and 
suggests  that  oyster  production  can  be  increased  almost  im- 
mediately. The  section  on  shrimp  by  Carter  Broad  discloses  a 
complex  pattern  of  species  intermingled  in  the  catch.  His  section 
is  enlightening,  since  it  clarifies  popularly  held  misconceptions 
that  shrimp  are  being  depleted.  John  Pearson  concludes  that  the 
blue  crab  has  not  been  fully  utilized  in  North  Carolina  but  points 
out  that  competitive  production  costs  with  the  Chesapeake  in- 
dustry may  make  expansion  of  the  fishery  unsound. 

According  to  Dr.  R.  E.  Coker,  there  is  promise  in  the  breeding 
and  rearing  of  diamond-back  terrapins  in  privately  managed  ter- 
rapin pens,  dependent  on  a  high  selling  price.  He  feels  this  could 
serve  as  a  basis  for  future  development  of  the  industry.  He  finds 
insufficient  information  on  wild  stock  to  draw  any  valid  con- 
clusions. 

The  last  two  sections  of  Part  II  cover  the  seaweeds  by  Dr. 
Harold  H.  Humm  and  marine  angling  by  Francesca  LaMonte.  Dr. 
Humm  describes  the  new  industry  which  has  developed  along  the 
Carolina  Coast  utilizing  seaweeds  to  produce  agar.  Mr.  LaMonte 
surveys  sports  fishing  in  coastal  waters.  This  chapter,  while 
interesting,  seems  somewhat  out  of  place,  preceded  by  rather 
technical  discussions  of  seaweeds  and  agar,  and  followed  by  a 
lengthy  economic  study  of  commercial  species.  It  might  better 
have  been  published  as  a  separate  bulletin. 

Almost  half  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  Part  III,  entitled  "Eco- 
nomics of  the  Fisheries  of  North  Carolina,"  by  Dr.  Harden  F. 


Book  Reviews  285 

Taylor.  This  heading  is  misleading,  since  Dr.  Taylor's  economic 
studies  have  led  him  to  analyze  the  fisheries  far  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  North  Carolina. 

His  introduction  explains  the  economic  conditions  and  standard 
of  living  of  the  coastal  region  of  North  Carolina,  and  he  con- 
cludes that  ".  .  .  the  main  impediment  to  what  we  call  progress 
is  that  the  human  qualities  of  creative  enterprise  and  desire  and 
ambition  for  more  and  better  things  have  not  had  adequate  stimu- 
lation." 

The  book  deals  with  the  fisheries  in  a  general  and  qualitative 
way.  Dr.  Taylor  points  out  that  the  productivity  of  the  sea  is  un- 
tapped, as  compared  to  land,  and  that  proteins  and  fats  so  es- 
sential for  human  welfare  can  be  produced  at  far  lower  cost  at 
the  marine  production  point  than  at  the  production  point  of  land 
animals. 

The  author  states  that  it  is  "impossible  to  exterminate  a 
species  or  a  fishery  for  profit,  since  the  profit  disappears  before 
the  fish  is  exterminated." 

Marketing,  distribution,  and  consumption  of  fish  in  the  United 
States  are  covered  with  explanatory  statistical  tables,  graphs,  and 
charts.  A  section  on  manufacturing  follows,  covering  methods  of 
processing  which  include  canning,  freezing,  and  filleting.  By- 
products are  also  discussed. 

The  next  major  heading  is  a  quantitative  consideration  of 
world  fisheries  and  those  of  the  United  States.  Dr.  Taylor  has 
standardized  statistical  procedures  and  has  re-worked  statistical 
data  compiled  by  the  Federal  government  from  1887  to  1940. 

His  findings  show  that  "the  fisheries  of  this  country  as  a  whole 
have  been  able  to  afford  and  continue  to  afford  a  production  in- 
creasing in  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  population."  Dr.  Taylor 
concludes  that  "production  of  food  fisheries  follows  an  economic 
rather  than  biological  trend."  "No  evidence  is  seen  that  abun- 
dance or  scarcity  of  any  kind,  or  of  all  kinds,  of  fish  had  any 
effect  on  the  total  quantity  or  value  of  the  product  of  the  food 
fisheries." 

Little  advance  has  been  made  in  any  fishery  in  North  Carolina 
except  in  the  menhaden.  Dr.  Taylor  feels  that  none  will  be  made 
unless  the  thinking  is  clarified  and  possibly  re-oriented,  "or  the 
emphasis  shifted  in  a  direction  which  will  afford  to  the  fisheries 


286  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  same  kind  of  encouragement  to  efficiency  as  is  given  to  agri- 
culture ;  unnecessary  restraints  should  be  removed  and  assurance 
given  that  the  use  of  any  improved  techniques  that  may  be  de- 
veloped will  not  be  forbidden  without  scientific  justification." 

This  composite  volume  is  a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the 
undertaking  of  our  fisheries.  While  many  may  disagree  with  the 
conclusions  reached  by  Dr.  Taylor,  none  can  question  the  thor- 
oughness of  the  study  or  the  fresh  thinking  brought  to  bear  on 
the  handling  of  our  marine  resources.  This  book  should  serve  as 
a  guide  for  future  research  on  North  Carolina  fishes. 

David  H.  Wallace. 
Annapolis,  Maryland. 


The  Southern  Humanities  Conference  and  Its  Constituent  Societies.  By  J.  0. 
Bailey  and  Sturgis  E.  Leavitt.  (Chapel  Hill:  The  University  of  North 
Carolina  Press.  1951.  Pp.  68.  $1.00.) 

This  booklet  represents  an  effort  of  the  Southern  Humanities 
Conference  to  give  publicity  to  the  history  of  the  conference  and 
its  constitutent  societies,  with  a  view  toward  encouraging  re- 
search in  the  field.  It  opens  with  a  history  of  the  organization. 
According  to  this  historical  sketch,  the  Southern  Conference 
originated  in  the  American  Council  of  Learned  Societies,  working 
largely  through  two  of  its  leading  members — Waldo  G.  Leland 
and  Sturgis  E.  Leavitt.  They  and  other  leaders  planned  the 
formation  of  a  committee  in  the  South.  Mr.  Leland,  director  of 
the  American  Council  of  Learned  Societies,  seems  to  have  been 
chiefly  responsible  for  creating  an  All-Southern  Committee. 

Correspondence  was  carried  on  in  1944  with  potential  con- 
stituent organizations  and  editors  suggesting  a  Humanities  Con- 
ference in  the  South  in  1945.  Though  many  favorable  replies 
were  returned,  war  conditions  led  the  American  Council  to  delay 
action. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  Mr.  Leavitt  resumed  action  and  in 
1947  again  communicated  with  southern  leaders  regarding  a 
possible  conference  to  form  a  "Regional  Committee  on  the  Hu- 
manities" to  promote  the  cause.  Responses  were  so  favorable 
that,  with  the  active  support  of  the  American  Council,  repre- 
sentatives of  southern  societies  held  meetings  at  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  and  Duke  University,  as  a  result  of  which  a 


Book  Reviews  287 

permanent  organization  was  formed  to  be  called  the  "Southern 
Humanities  Conference"  and  ten  organizations  were  invited  to 
become  members.  The  representative  of  the  American  Council 
stated  that  the  organization  hoped,  through  the  Southern  Hu- 
manities Conference,  to  "make  effective  impact  upon  the  life 
of  the  South"  (p.  7).  He  urged  that  support  from  southern 
foundations  be  sought  for  the  program. 

Activities  were  reported  for  making  a  survey  of  the  humani- 
ties in  the  South,  for  preparing  an  index  of  southern  societies  in 
the  fields  of  the  humanities,  and  for  making  a  survey  of  re- 
sources for  advanced  study  in  the  South. 

The  next  meeting,  in  Chapel  Hill  in  April,  1948,  heard  reports 
on  research  in  progress  in  the  South.  Data  showed  about  1,000 
research-scholars  active  on  about  1,500  research-projects  ranging 
from  encyclopedias  to  analyses  of  current  events.  Work  was  re- 
ported on  a  Guide  to  Manuscript  Resources.  The  group  also  dis- 
cussed three  important  problems:  ways  to  attract  the  best  men 
to  teach  in  the  humanistic  fields,  of  retaining  the  best  teachers  in 
the  South,  and  of  encouraging  creative  scholarship. 

It  was  decided  later  by  the  Executive  Committee  that  the 
Stroup  Survey  on  Research  in  Progress  should  be  published  as 
Bulletin  No.  I  of  the  Southern  Humanities  Conference,  the  first 
of  a  series  to  be  published  by  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
Press. 

Annual  sessions  were  held  at  Chapel  Hill  and  the  University  of 
Virginia  in  1949  and  1950.  Such  subjects  as  Societies  in  the  South 
Interested  in  the  Humanities,  the  Relationship  of  Library  Re- 
sources to  Graduate  Work,  Encouragement  of  Research  by  South- 
ern Institutions,  Collections  of  Manuscripts,  and  non-academic 
"Friends  of  the  Humanities"  in  the  South  were  discussed.  Col- 
leges and  universities  were  invited  to  become  institutional  as- 
sociate members.  The  conference  for  1951  was  planned  to  con- 
vene at  Washington  and  Lee  University. 

Following  the  history  of  the  organization  are  sections  on  Meet- 
ings and  Officers,  Histories  of  the  Constituent  Societies,  Asso- 
ciate Members  of  the  Southern  Humanities  Conference,  and  the 
constitution  consisting  of  eight  articles. 

The  first  two  bulletins  of  this  scholarly  organization  reveal 
genuine  achievement  in  vitalizing  the  humanities  in  the  South. 


288  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  first  bulletin  contains  eighty-six  pages  of  titles  only  of  work 
in  progress  in  the  humanities  in  a  single  year,  and  research  in 
sociology  and  economics  is  not  even  listed.  Had  the  research  of 
men  like  Howard  W.  Odum,  Rupert  Vance,  and  Calvin  Hoover 
been  included,  the  record  would  have  been  even  more  impressive. 
It  is  an  inspiring  record — clear  evidence  of  an  intellectual 
awakening.  It  proves  false  H.  L.  Mencken's  jibe  of  a  genera- 
tion ago  to  the  effect  that  the  South  is  ignorant  and  contented. 
The  history  of  the  Southern  Humanities  Conference  and  its  con- 
stituent organizations  as  recorded  in  this  second  bulletin  is  still 
more  inspiring  information  on  the  intellectual  South.  Every  in- 
stitution of  learning  that  is  interested  in  cultural  progress  of  the 
South  should  add  this  series  of  bulletins  to  its  collection.  More 
power  (and  financial  support)  to  Mr.  Leavitt  and  his  productive 
colleagues. 

M.  L.  Skaggs. 

Greensboro  College, 
Greensboro,  N.  C. 

Bourbon  Democracy  in  Alabama.  By  Allen  Johnston  Going.    (University, 
Alabama:  The  University  of  Alabama  Press.  1951.  Pp.  ix,  256.  $4.00.) 

The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  fill  the  gap  in  the  history  of 
Alabama  between  the  Reconstruction  era,  so  well  described  by 
Walter  L.  Fleming,  and  the  Populist  period,  which  has  been  treat- 
ed by  John  B.  Clark.  In  Alabama  this  period  extended  from  1874 
to  1890  and  was  characterized,  politically,  by  the  dominance  of 
the  Democratic  party  in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  This  party  was 
labeled  "Bourbon"  by  its  Radical  enemies  in  order  to  stamp  their 
Democratic  opponents  as  anti-progressive  and  ultra-conservative. 
However  accurate  or  inaccurate  the  label  might  have  been,  the 
phrase  still  supplies  us,  by  common  usage,  with  a  name  for  an 
era  in  southern  history. 

It  is  this  era  in  Alabama  which  Mr.  Going  proposes  to  analyze 
and  describe,  but  his  conception  of  his  task  is  a  narrower  one 
than  that  held  by  Fleming  or  Clark.  The  study  is  confined  to  an 
analysis  and  description  of  the  state  government  of  Alabama ;  it 
is  written  largely  from  a  spectator's  seat  in  the  state  legislature ; 
there  is  in  it  almost  nothing  of  the  social,  economic  and  industrial 
development  of  the  state  in  this  period.  Because  the  author  set 
out  to  do  no  more  than  describe  the  history  of  the  Democratic 


Book  Reviews  289 

party  his  work  inevitably  has  about  it  the  flavor  of  incomplete- 
ness. Though  the  task  he  proposed  to  perform  has  been  done,  the 
larger  history  of  Alabama  for  this  period  remains  to  be  treated. 

Though  the  term  "Bourbon"  is  shown  to  be  inaccurate  if  ap- 
plied to  all  factions  of  the  party,  yet  the  general  pattern  of 
Democratic  government  in  Alabama  is  revealed  to  conform  to 
the  general  characteristics  of  Bourbonism  over  the  Southland. 
Divided  by  the  war  quarrels,  the  party  was  united  by  the  issues 
of  race  and  economy  and  came  to  victory  in  1874.  Hardly  chal- 
lenged by  other  political  parties  thereafter,  its  victory  was  con- 
solidated by  the  constitution  of  1875,  and  political  domination 
was  subsequently  maintained  largely  by  control  of  the  election 
machinery.  What  were  the  attitudes  and  policies  of  this  party 
toward  the  pressing  questions  of  the  time  ? 

The  answers  are  given  in  Mr.  Going's  book  and  are  found  to 
conform,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  emerging  pattern  of  the 
Bourbon  South.  The  state  debt  was  partially  repudiated,  expendi- 
tures and  taxation  were  reduced,  and  economy  in  government 
became  a  potent  slogan.  As  a  result  of  economy  social  services 
were  reduced  or  eliminated,  public  education  was  neglected,  and 
there  was  no  state  action  to  alleviate  the  grievances  of  the 
farmer.  Toward  business  and  industry  the  Democratic  party 
adopted  a  dual  role  in  which  industry  was  both  impeded  and  en- 
couraged. This  same  duality  prevailed  in  regard  to  railroads,  for 
though  the  Constitution  of  1875  prohibited  direct  state  aid  to 
internal  improvements  the  railroad  commission  which  was  estab- 
lished in  1881  was  never  so  strict  or  powerful  as  in  some  other 
states.  Also  within  the  general  southern  pattern  of  the  times 
were  the  attitudes  of  the  party  toward  the  penal  system,  where 
reform  was  hardly  an  object,  and  toward  the  Negro,  who  was 
certainly  effectively  controlled,  though  not  disfranchised.  The 
total  picture  is  one  of  a  government  which  was  honest  and  eco- 
nomical but  which  was  also  weak  and  inefficient. 

But  if  the  author  paints  this  general  picture  he  also  makes  it 
clear  that  there  was  continual  disagreement  and  opposition 
within  the  party  on  matters  of  policy.  Many  pressures  from  sec- 
tional and  economic  groups  prevented  the  full  realization  of  an 
agrarian,  conservative  program.  Important  modifications  of  Bour- 
bon attitudes  were  forced  on  such  questions  as  debt  repudiation, 


290  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

encouragement  to  immigration  and  industry,  and  the  party  shib- 
boleth of  a  strictly  economical  government.  But  poverty  and  the 
prevailing  philosophy  of  laissez-faire  prevented  any  serious  al- 
terations in  the  Bourbon  program  before  1890. 

The  principal  sources  employed  in  this  study  are  official  docu- 
ments and  newspapers,  though  some  manuscript  collections  have 
been  found  useful.  The  research  has  been  thorough  and  the 
organization  of  the  material  is  clear  and  logical.  The  style  is 
undistinguished,  even  pedestrian,  but  the  subject  matter  treated 
doubtless  supplies  extenuating  circumstances.  A  useful  appendix 
furnishes  needed  summaries  of  elections  and  eighteen  maps  en- 
able the  reader  to  visualize  the  sectional  and  party  divisions 
within  the  state  throughout  the  period.  An  excellent  bibliography 
and  an  adequate  index  complete  a  sound  and  useful  account  of 
Bourbon  democracy  in  Alabama. 

Frontis  W.  Johnston. 

Davidson  College, 
Davidson. 


The  Territorial  Papers  of  The  United  States.  Compiled  and  edited  by 
Clarence  Edwin  Carter.  Volume  XV.  The  Territory  of  Louisiana-Missouri, 
1815-1821.  (Washington:  United  States  Government  Printing  Office.  1951. 
Pp.  834.  $5.00.) 

This  is  the  last  of  a  series  of  three  volumes  dealing  with  the 

Territory  of  Louisiana-Missouri,  1803-1821,  a  project  commenced 
by  the  Department  of  State  and  later  transferred  by  an  executive 

order  to  the  National  Archives  and  Records  Service.  Volume  XV 
includes  a  period  of  six  years,  1815-1821,  and  is  divided  into  four 
sections.  Section  one  deals  with  the  first  administration  of  Gov- 
ernor William  Clark,  1815-1816,  which  is  a  continuation  from 
Volume  XIV,  The  Territory  of  Louisiana-Missouri,  1806-1814. 
Section  two  deals  with  the  second  administration  of  Governor 
William  Clark,  1816-1820,  while  section  three  deals  with  his  third 
administration.  The  last  section  deals  with  the  period  of  transi- 
tion, 1820-1821,  that  is,  the  changing  of  the  status  of  Missouri 
from  that  of  a  territory  to  statehood. 

This  is  a  volume  of  documents  collected  from  many  sources, 
arranged  in  chronological  order.  The  source  from  which  each 
document  has  been  taken  is  given  in  headnotes,  most  of  which 
may  be  found  in  various  collections  of  the  National  Archives.  The 


Book  Reviews  291 

volume  opens  with  a  document  relating  to  mail  routes  and  closes 
with  a  letter  from  Governor  Alexander  McNair  to  John  Q.  Adams, 
secretary  of  state,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  letter,  declaring 
the  "admission  of  the  State  of  Missouri  as  a  member  of  the  Union 
to  be  complete."  The  numerous  footnotes  add  much  to  the  useful- 
ness of  the  volume,  as  they  help  clarify  many  of  the  documents 
included  and  give  reference  to  other  valuable  material. 

There  are  in  the  book  approximately  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  documents,  and  other  valuable  enclosures  such  as  letters 
and  petitions  relating  to  problems  growing  out  of  pioneer  con- 
ditions. Among  the  pressing  problems  confronting  the  three  ad- 
ministrations of  Governor  William  Clark  none  seem  to  be  of 
greater  concern  to  the  people  of  the  Missouri  Territory  than  the 
land  problem.  Many  of  the  documents  deal  with  land  surveys, 
land  claims  and  the  sale  of  the  public  domain.  Such  problems 
were  of  great  concern  to  the  officials  in  charge  of  the  Missouri 
territory  and  the  residents  of  the  region. 

The  first  three  sections  of  the  book  include  much  material  re- 
lating to  problems  concerning  the  Indian.  This  problem  along 
with  the  issues  growing  out  of  the  public  domain  gave  a  great 
concern  to  those  entrusted  with  the  administration  of  the  terri- 
tory. These  documents  reveal  the  growing  importance  of  Indian 
affairs  in  the  Missouri  Territory  during  the  last  few  years  pre- 
ceding statehood. 

The  fourth  section  contains  many  political  documents  relating 
to  Missouri's  move  for  statehood.  This  part  of  the  book  is  in- 
teresting reading,  for  it  gives  an  excellent  picture  of  the  social 
and  economic  conditions  as  well  as  the  political  activities  im- 
mediately preceding  Missouri's  admission  to  the  Union. 

This  volume  should  be  quite  useful  to  the  research  scholars, 
especially  those  interested  in  the  issues  growing  out  of  the  dis- 
posal of  the  public  domain,  and  in  problems  relating  to  Indian 
affairs. 

Walter  H.  Ryle. 

Northeast  Missouri  State  Teachers  College, 
Kirksville,  Mo. 


The  People's  General:  The  Personal  Story  of  Lafayette.  By  David  Loth. 
(New  York:  Charles  Scribner's  Sons.  1951.  Pp.  viii,  346.  $3.50.) 


292  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

In  The  People's  General  David  Loth  gives  the  intimate  story 
of  an  ambitious  young  man  motivated  by  feelings  of  emotional 
insecurity  with  which  nearly  all  of  us  can  sympathize.  Beginning 
with  his  early  childhood,  the  reader  is  shown  the  family  back- 
ground, the  education,  and  the  youthful  associations — even  the 
accidental  occurrences — which  shaped  the  character  of  Marie 
Joseph  Paul  Yves  Koch  Gilbert  du  Motier,  Marquis  de  Lafayette. 
The  contrast  is  sharply  drawn  between  his  boyhood  home  in  the 
Auvergne  and  the  Noailles  Palace  in  Paris  where  according  to 
his  marriage  contract  he  was  compelled  to  live,  when  he  was  not 
with  his  regiment,  among  his  court-loving  in-laws.  Then  follows 
an  account  of  the  difficulties  Lafayette  encountered  in  leaving 
for  America,  the  satisfying  father-son  type  of  relationship  with 
Washington,  and  his  adventures  as  an  officer  in  the  American 
Revolution.  The  difficult  political  and  military  role  he  played 
before,  during,  and  after  the  French  Revolution  occupies  the  third 
part  of  the  book,  and  his  return  to  the  United  States  and  his 
retirement  and  old  age  conclude  the  work. 

Although  it  is  apparent  that  Loth  has  a  great  affection  for 
his  hero,  he  gives  a  frank,  objective  analysis  of  Lafayette's 
motives,  even  allowing  for  Lafayette's  lapses  of  memory  in  rela- 
tion thereto,  and  never  indulges  in  hero  worship.  His  background 
as  a  newspaperman  qualifies  the  author  as  a  raconteur — his  story 
is  a  succession  of  interesting  events — but  does  not  incline  him 
toward  documentation.  Sources  are  listed  in  the  appendix  and  in 
the  author's  acknowledgments,  but  no  footnote  references  are 
given.  Letters  are  quoted  in  the  text,  some  with  dates  and  places 
and  some  without  these  aids.  One  wonders  how  David  Loth  knows 
what  feelings  Lafayette  experienced  as  he  stood  outside  the  Tuil- 
leries  soon  after  his  return  from  America.  There  are  awkward 
skips  in  the  narrative  for  which  no  explanation  is  given.  Al- 
though the  book  is  relatively  free  from  typographical  faults, 
there  are  some  factual  discrepancies.  For  example,  an  eighty-day 
voyage  was  started  on  April  20,  1777  (page  67),  and  ended  June 
13,  1777  (page  72).  A  woman  who  is  "a  couple  of  years"  older 
than  the  hero  on  page  26  has  become  three  years  older  by  page  45. 

The  book  is  printed  in  large,  readable  type  and  has  an  adequate 
index.  There  is  one  illustration,  a  portrait  frontispiece,  and  an 
unusually  attractive  dust  jacket.  Mr.  Loth  is  to  be  commended 


Book  Reviews  293 

for  presenting  history  in  its  most  readable  form,  if  not  its  most 

useful. 

May  Davis  Hill. 

State  Department  of  Archives  and  History, 
Raleigh. 


Records  of  the  Accounting  Department  of  the  Office  of  Price  Administration. 
Compiled  by  Meyer  H.  Fishbein  and  Elaine  C.  Bennett.  Preliminary  In- 
ventories of  the  National  Archives,  No.  32.  (Washington,  1951.  Pp.  vii, 
108.  Processed.) 

Records  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance.  Compiled  by  William  F.  Shonkwiler. 
Preliminary  Inventories  of  the  National  Archives,  No.  33.  (Washington, 
1951.  Pp.  v,  33.  Processed.) 

Records  of  the  Solid  Fuels  Administration  for  War.  Compiled  by  Edward  F. 
Martin.  Preliminary  Inventories  of  the  National  Archives,  No.  34.  (Wash- 
ington, 1951.  Pp.  v,  39.  Processed.) 

These  preliminary  inventories  are  the  latest  in  a  series  begun 
by  the  National  Archives  in  1941  with  the  ultimate  aim  of  de- 
scribing in  detail  the  material  in  the  260-odd  record  groups  to 
which  its  holdings  are  allocated.  Although  designed  primarily  for 
staff  use — as  finding  aids  in  rendering  reference  service  and  as 
a  means  of  establishing  administrative  control  over  the  records — 
they  should  prove  equally  useful  to  the  researcher  interested  in 
the  record  group  inventoried. 

In  addition  to  describing  the  records  themselves  by  series, 
each  inventory  contains  a  statement  of  the  history  and  functions 
of  the  agency.  In  the  case  of  the  two  World  War  II  agencies,  these 
valuable  guides  to  their  administrative  complexities  are  supple- 
mented by  brief  administrative  histories  of  their  several  offices 
or  divisions.  Where  related  records  exist,  the  introductory  state- 
ments indicate  the  record  groups  in  which  they  are  to  be  found 
in  the  National  Archives  or  the  agency  that  has  retained  them  for 
current  use. 

The  records  of  the  accounting  department  of  the  Office  of 
Price  Administration,  1940-1947,  pertain  to  the  administration 
and  enforcement  of  the  price,  rent,  and  rationing  programs. 
Those  of  the  Solid  Fuels  Administration  for  War,  1941-1947,  deal 
with  the  control  of  coal  and  packaged  and  processed  fuels.  In- 
ventoried with  the  latter  are  the  closely  related  records  of  the 
Coal  Mines  Administration,  1943-1945,  and  the  Coal  Mines  Ad- 
ministration-Navy, 1946-1948,  which  operated  the  mines  during 


294  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

the  four  periods  when  they  were  seized  by  the  Federal  govern- 
ment. 

The  inventory  of  the  Bureau  of  Ordnance,  Department  of  the 
Navy,  describes  the  records  that  had  been  transferred  to  the 
National  Archives  by  June,  1951.  They  include  many  items  re- 
lating to  the  invention,  manufacture,  and  testing  of  ordnance 
equipment  and  incomplete  records  of  various  ordnance  boards. 
There  is  also  a  collection  of  maps,  photographs,  and  drawings, 
1818-1943. 

Dorothy  Dodd. 

Florida  State  Library, 
Tallahassee. 


HISTORICAL  NEWS 

A  committee  has  been  set  up  to  conduct  a  campaign  to  estab- 
lish at  Kitty  Hawk  a  museum  relating  to  the  Wright  brothers 
of  Dayton,  Ohio,  who  made  the  first  airplane  flight,  December  17, 
1903.  Members  are  Mr.  David  Stick  of  Kitty  Hawk,  chairman; 
Mr.  Ronald  F.  Lee,  assistant  director  of  the  National  Park 
Service,  Washington;  Mr.  Paul  Garber,  curator  of  the  National 
Air  Museum  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington;  Mr. 
Harold  S.  Miller  of  Dayton,  executor  of  the  Wright  estate ;  Mr. 
Harold  S.  Manning,  head  of  the  Southeastern  Airport  Managers' 
Association,  Augusta,  Georgia;  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden  of 
Raleigh;  and  Mr.  Victor  S.  Meekins  of  Manteo.  The  committee 
met  with  officials  of  the  National  Park  Service  and  others  in 
Washington,  February  15,  and  made  plans  for  the  campaign. 

The  Tryon  Palace  Commission  has  signed  a  contract  with  the 
Boston  firm  of  architects,  Perry,  Shaw  and  Hepburn,  Kehoe  and 
Dean,  which  was  in  charge  of  the  restoration  of  colonial  Wil- 
liamsburg, for  the  reconstruction  of  the  Tryon  Palace,  colonial 
and  first  state  capitol  of  North  Carolina,  in  New  Bern.  For  this 
purpose  the  late  Mrs.  J.  E.  Latham  of  Greensboro  donated  ap- 
proximately $1,500,000,  and  the  state  appropriated  funds  for 
the  purchase  of  at  least  a  part  of  the  necessary  land. 

The  Department  of  Archives  and  History  has  arranged  for  the 
Genealogical  Society  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day 
Saints  to  make  microfilm  copies  of  the  older  records  in  Camden, 
Hyde,  Jones,  Montgomery,  Moore,  Person,  Richmond,  and  Wilkes 
counties.  Many  records  of  the  other  North  Carolina  counties 
have  previously  been  filmed  by  the  society.  In  each  case  the 
master  negative  is  retained  by  the  society  and  a  positive  print 
is  sent  to  the  Department  of  Archives  and  History. 

The  State  Records  Microfilm  Project,  coordinated  under  the 
Department  of  Archives  and  History,  has  been  in  operation 
since  August,  1951.  Projects  are  now  being  conducted  in  the 
Board  of  Education,  the  Personnel  Department,  and  the  office 
of  the  State  Treasurer. 


[295] 


296  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  older  records  of  the  A.  S.  Cox  Manufacturing  Company, 
Winterville,  have  been  accessioned  by  the  State  Department  of 
Archives  and  History.  The  company,  founded  in  1875,  made 
cotton  planters  that  were  distributed  as  far  west  as  Texas. 

The  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History,  through  the 
courtesy  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  H.  Cotten  of  Chapel  Hill,  has  acquired 
the  Virginia  Dare  desk,  a  gift  of  Mrs.  George  Ross  Pou  of 
Raleigh.  The  desk  was  made  by  North  Carolinians  out  of  white 
holly  from  Roanoke  Island  as  the  contribution  of  the  women  of 
the  state  to  the  women's  building  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  in 
1893.  The  carved  panels  represent  scenes  and  symbols  connected 
with  Virginia  Dare,  including  the  legendary  white  doe,  scupper- 
nong  vines,  and  the  coat  of  arms  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  desk 
has  since  been  preserved  by  the  State  Library,  the  Raleigh 
Woman's  Club,  and  the  late  George  Ross  Pou,  State  Auditor. 
Mrs.  Cotten  has  given  the  Department  a  gavel  which  accompanied 
the  desk  when  it  was  originally  presented. 

The  Southern  Appalachian  Historical  Association  has  chosen 
the  name  "Daniel  Boone  Theater"  for  the  outdoor  theater  which 
is  to  be  built  at  Boone  for  its  production,  "Horn  in  the  West,"  by 
Kermit  Hunter.  The  play  is  scheduled  to  open  June  27  and  its 
theme  is  the  change  effected  by  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina 
on  a  dyed-in-the-wool  royalist  in  the  period  between  1776  and 
1780. 

The  Department  of  Archives  and  History  has  a  limited  number 
of  copies  of  the  History  of  the  113th  Field  Artillery,  30th  Divi- 
sion, published  by  the  History  Committee  of  the  113th  Field 
Artillery,  Raleigh,  in  1920.  The  book  consists  of  262  pages  and  is 
illustrated  with  photographs,  maps,  and  other  material.  Any 
library  may  obtain  a  copy  of  this  volume  by  sending  twenty-five 
cents  for  wrapping  and  mailing  to  the  Division  of  Publications, 
Department  of  Archives  and  History,  Box  1881,  Raleigh. 

At  North  Carolina  State  College,  Dr.  Stuart  Noblin  has  been 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  associate  professor,  and  Dr.  Charles  F. 
Kolb  and  Dr.  Marvin  L.  Brown,  Jr.,  have  been  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  assistant  professor. 


Historical  News  297 

Dr.  Preston  W.  Edsall,  head  of  the  department  of  history  and 
political  science  at  North  Carolina  State  College,  attended  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Southern  Political  Science  Association  in 
Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  on  November  8,  9,  and  10  and  served 
as  a  discussion  leader  in  the  panel  of  "The  Rule  of  Law  Today." 

Dr.  William  B.  Todd,  professor  of  English  at  Salem  College, 
has  published  "Bibliography  and  the  Editorial  Problem  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century/'  Studies  in  Bibliography,  IV  (1951) ,  41-55 ; 
the  following  articles  in  Papers  of  the  Bibliographical  Society  of 
America,  XLV  (1951)  :  "Press  Figures  and  Book  Reviews  as 
Determinants  of  Priority:  A  Study  of  Home's  Douglas  (1757) 
and  Cumberland's  The  Brothers  (1770),"  72-76;  "Another  At- 
tribution to  Swift,"  82-83;  "Two  Issues  of  Crabbe's  Works' 
(1823),"  250-251;  "Twin  Titles  in  Scott's  Woodstock  (1826)," 
256;  and  "A  Hidden  Edition  of  Whitehead's  Variety  (1776)," 
357-358;  and  two  articles  in  The  Library,  5th  ser.,  VI  (1951)  : 
"The  Bibliographical  History  of  Burke's  Reflections  on  the  Revo- 
lution in  France,"  100-108,  and  "The  First  Printing  of  Hume's 
Life  (1777),"  123-125. 

Miss  Sarah  McCulloh  Lemmon  has  recently  published  the 
following  article:  "The  Ideology  of  the  Dixiecrat  Movement," 
Social  Forces,  December,  1951.  Miss  Lemmon  is  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  history  at  Meredith  College. 

Dr.  Elisha  P.  Douglass,  now  professor  of  history  at  Elon  Col- 
lege, has  been  appointed  assistant  professor  of  American  history 
at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  beginning  September  1, 
1952.  Professor  Douglass  received  his  A.  B.  from  Princeton, 
his  M.  S.  in  journalism  from  Columbia,  and  his  Ph.  D.  from  Yale 
in  1949.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Committee  on  Historical 
Markers. 

Dr.  Wallace  E.  Caldwell,  chairman  of  the  department  of  his- 
tory at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  has  just  published 
(with  W.  C.  McDermott)  Readings  in  Ancient  History  (Rine- 
hart) ,  a  collection  of  source  readings. 

Dr.  Loren  C.  MacKinney  delivered  the  inaugural  lecture  of 
the  "J.  C.  Trent  Society  of  the  History  of  Medicine"  at  the  Duke 
University  Medical  School,  February  19,  1952. 


298  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

Dr.  Harold  A.  Bierck,  Jr.,  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
has  been  elected  secretary-treasurer  of  the  Conference  on  Latin 
American  History  of  the  American  Historical  Association. 

The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  The  South  Atlantic  Quarterly,  the 
nation's  second  oldest  literary-general  quarterly,  was  celebrated 
by  the  publication  on  March  21  of  Fifty  Years  of  the  South 
Atlantic  Quarterly,  edited  by  William  B.  Hamilton,  and  a  special 
January  anniversary  issue  of  the  Quarterly,  which  was  founded 
in  1902  by  John  Spencer  Bassett,  history  professor  at  Trinity 
College,  forerunner  of  Duke  University.  Dr.  William  T.  Laprade, 
chairman  of  the  Duke  history  department,  is  the  present  editor 
of  the  Quarterly. 

Mr.  John  E.  Tyler  of  Roxobel  has  been  named  district  vice- 
president  for  the  Albemarle  District  of  the  North  Carolina  So- 
ciety of  County  and  Local  Historians.  The  Albemarle  District 
consists  of  the  counties  of  Bertie,  Beaufort,  Camden,  Chowan, 
Currituck,  Dare,  Edgecombe,  Gates,  Halifax,  Hertford,  Hyde, 
Martin,  Nash,  Northampton,  Pasquotank,  Perquimans,  Pitt, 
Tyrrell,  Washington,  and  Wilson. 

Mrs.  Seth  L.  Smith  of  Whiteville  has  been  named  vice- 
president  for  the  Cape  Fear  District,  which  includes  the  counties 
of  Bladen,  Brunswick,  Carteret,  Columbus,  Craven,  Cumberland, 
Duplin,  Greene,  Jones,  Lenoir,  New  Hanover,  Onslow,  Pamlico, 
Pender,  Robeson,  Sampson,  and  Wayne. 

Mr.  John  E.  Monger  of  Sanford  is  vice-president  for  the  Cen- 
tral, which  includes  the  counties  of  Alamance,  Caswell,  Chat- 
ham, Durham,  Franklin,  Granville,  Guilford,  Harnett,  Hoke, 
Johnston,  Lee,  Montgomery,  Moore,  Orange,  Person,  Randolph, 
Richmond,  Rockingham,  Scotland,  Vance,  Wake,  and  Warren. 

Dr.  J.  E.  Hodges  of  Maiden  has  been  elected  divisional  vice- 
president,  in  charge  of  activities  in  the  Piedmont  District.  This 
district  is  composed  of  the  counties  of  Alexander,  Alleghany, 
Anson,  Cabarrus,  Catawba,  Cleveland,  Davidson,  Davie,  Forsyth, 
Gaston,  Iredell,  Lincoln,  Mecklenburg,  Rowan,  Stanly,  Stokes, 
Surry,  Union,  Wilkes,  and  Yadkin. 

Mr.  Clarence  W.  Griffin  of  Forest  City  is  vice-president  for  the 
Western  District,  which  includes  the  counties  of  Ashe,  Avery, 
Buncombe,  Burke,  Caldwell,  Cherokee,  Clay,  Graham,  Haywood, 


Historical  News  299 

Henderson,  Jackson,  McDowell,  Macon,  Madison,  Mitchell,  Polk, 
Rutherford,  Swain,  Transylvania,  Watauga,  and  Yancey. 

A  large  number  of  North  Carolinians  attended  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Historical  Association  in  New  York, 
December  28-30.  Taking  part  in  the  program  were  Miss  Frances 
Acomb,  Dr.  Paul  H.  Clyde,  Dr.  Ray  C.  Petry,  Dr.  Charles  S. 
Sydnor,  and  Dr.  Richard  L.  Watson,  Jr.,  all  of  Duke  University, 
and  Dr.  Fletcher  M.  Green  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Martin  Kellogg,  Jr.,  of  Manteo  was  named  chairman  of 
the  Roanoke  Island  Historical  Association  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  held  in  Raleigh  January  4.  Other  officers 
elected  were  as  follows :  Mr.  Russell  M.  Grumman  of  Chapel  Hill, 
vice-chairman ;  Mr.  I.  P.  Davis  of  Winston-Salem,  secretary ;  and 
Mr.  C.  S.  Meekins  of  Manteo,  treasurer.  Mr.  Chester  Davis  of 
Winston-Salem  and  Mr.  Grumman  were  presented  as  new  mem- 
bers of  the  board. 

On  January  11  Mr.  D.  L.  Corbitt  of  the  Department  of  Archives 
and  History  spoke  before  the  Bloomsbury  Chapter  of  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution.  His  subject  was  Richard  Cas- 
well. On  January  17  he  addressed  the  Junior  League  of  Raleigh 
on  "The  Background  of  Raleigh." 

On  January  16  Mrs.  Joye  E.  Jordan  of  the  Department  of 
Archives  and  History  attended  the  preview  of  the  Brush-Everard 
house  in  Williamsburg,  Virginia;  on  January  23  she  attended 
the  opening  of  the  Southern  Furniture  Exhibition  at  the  Virginia 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts  in  Richmond;  and  on  February  5  she 
spoke  on  "Quilt  Patterns  as  Modern  Art"  at  a  luncheon  meeting 
of  the  Junior  Woman's  Club  of  Raleigh. 

On  January  16  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden  addressed  the 
Sesame  Club  of  Faison  on  "Museum  Opportunities  for  All  Citi- 
zens";  on  February  14  he  spoke  at  the  chapel  exercises  of  St. 
Augustine's  College,  Raleigh,  on  "John  Chavis,  Free  Negro 
Teacher  and  Preacher  of  the  Early  Nineteenth  Century" ;  and  on 
February  15  he  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the 
National  Council  for  Historic  Sites  and  Buildings  in  Washington. 
He  has  been  reappointed  chairman  of  the  Society  of  American 
Archivists'  Committee  on  Long-Range  Planning. 


300  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

The  Warren  County  Historical  Society  was  organized  in  War- 
renton  on  January  14.  After  a  talk  by  Mr.  D.  L.  Corbitt  of  the 
Department  of  Archives  and  History,  who  had  been  invited  to 
help  organize  the  group,  the  following  officers  were  elected :  Mr. 
Arthur  Nicholson,  president;  Dr.  Lena  Hawks,  vice-president; 
and  Mrs.  Arthur  Williams,  secretary  and  treasurer.  Mr.  Charles 
M.  Heck  of  Raleigh  and  Dr.  D.  T.  Smithwick  of  Louisburg  also 
attended  the  meeting. 

At  an  organizational  meeting  of  the  Pitt  County  Historical 
Society  on  February  14,  the  following  officers  were  elected: 
Judge  Dink  James  of  Greenville,  president ;  Mrs.  J.  Paul  Daven- 
port of  Pactolus,  Mr.  C.  V.  Cannon  of  Ayden,  Mr.  Walter  Latham 
of  Bethel,  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  Lawrence  of  Falkland,  vice-presidents ; 
Mrs.  Tabitha  Visconti  of  Farmville,  secretary;  and  Mrs.  Bessie 
W.  Scott  of  Greenville,  curator.  Mr.  D.  L.  Corbitt  and  Mr.  J.  L. 
Jackson  of  Raleigh,  natives  of  Pitt  County,  assisted  in  the  organi- 
zation. 

The  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  Day  Commission  met  in  Raleigh  on 
February  21  to  make  plans  for  the  celebration  later  in  the  year 
of  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  Sir  Walter's  birth.  The 
following  committees  were  named:  Executive  Committee:  Mr. 
Robert  Lee  Humber,  Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden,  Mrs.  W.  T. 
Bost,  Mr.  H.  A.  Scott,  and  Mr.  A.  T.  Spaulding;  Committee  to 
Cooperate  with  Superintendent  Erwin  on  Raleigh  Day  in  the 
Schools:  Mr.  A.  B.  Gibson,  Mr.  Joe  Nixon,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Hunter, 
and  Mr.  A.  T.  Spaulding;  Committee  on  Dramatic  Productions: 
Mr.  Paul  Green,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Hunter,  and  Dr.  J.  Y.  Joyner ;  Com- 
mittee to  Confer  with  London  Commission  on  Raleigh  Quadri- 
centennial:  Mr.  Robert  Lee  Humber,  Mr.  Paul  Green,  and  Dr. 
Christopher  Crittenden;  Committee  on  Stamp  for  Raleigh 
Quadricentennial :  Mr.  William  T.  Polk,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  D.  Rey- 
nolds, and  Mrs.  W.  T.  Bost. 

The  expanded  program  of  the  State  Literary  and  Historical 
Association,  announced  at  its  annual  meeting  last  December,  is 
getting  under  way.  The  following  chairmen  of  committees  have 
been  appointed  by  President  Frontis  W.  Johnston  of  Davidson : 
Awards,  Professor  Richard  Walser,  Raleigh;  Local  Historical 
Societies,  Mr.  D.  L.  Corbitt,  Raleigh;  Meetings  and  Programs, 
Dr.  D.  J.  Whitener,  Boone;  Membership,  Mr.  Russell  M.  Grum- 


Historical  News  301 

man,  Chapel  Hill;  To  Publicize  North  Carolina  History,  Mr. 
Clarence  W.  Griffin,  Forest  City.  A  full  list  of  committee  mem- 
bers will  be  published  later.  On  February  22  the  association's 
Executive  Committee  met  in  Raleigh  with  the  chairmen  of  the 
other  committees  and  certain  other  interested  members  to  hear 
reports  of  progress  and  to  make  plans  for  the  future.  The  pro- 
gram is  meeting  with  enthusiastic  response  throughout  the  state. 

The  Ashe  County  Historical  Society  was  formed  at  Jefferson 
on  February  22.  Mr.  A.  L.  Fletcher  of  Jefferson  and  Raleigh 
was  named  temporary  chairman  and  Mrs.  Ed  M.  Anderson  of 
West  Jefferson  was  named  secretary  of  a  seven-member  board 
in  charge  of  organization.  Permanent  officers  have  not  yet  been 
selected. 


CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THIS  ISSUE 

Miss  Fannie  Memory  Farmer  is  administrative  assistant  in  the 
State  Board  of  Public  Welfare  in  Raleigh. 

Dr.  John  Chalmers  Vinson  is  an  assistant  professor  of  history 
at  the  University  of  Georgia,  Athens. 

Dr.  Charles  Grier  Sellers,  Jr.,  is  an  assistant  professor  of  his- 
tory at  the  University,  Princeton,  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  James  M.  Merrill  is  a  doctoral  candidate  in  American  his- 
tory at  the  University  of  California,  Los  Angeles. 

Dr.  Ernest  M.  Lander,  Jr.,  is  an  associate  professor  of  history 
and  government  at  Clemson  College,  Clemson,  South  Carolina. 

Dr.  Christopher  Crittenden  is  director  of  the  State  Department 
of  Archives  and  History,  Raleigh,  and  secretary  of  the  State 
Literary  and  Historical  Association,  Raleigh. 

Mr.  E.  Lawrence  Lee,  Jr.,  is  a  doctoral  candidate  specializing 
in  colonial  American  history  at  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina. At  the  present  time  he  holds  the  William  Richardson  Davie 
memorial  scholarship  in  history  for  North  Carolina,  which  is 
awarded  by  the  North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Dr.  Frontis  W.  Johnston  is  head  of  the  department  of  history 
at  Davidson  College,  Davidson. 

Dr.  Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson  is  a  reference  consultant  of 
the  Manuscript  Division  of  the  Library  of  Congress,  Washington. 

Miss  Mary  Lindsay  Thornton  is  librarian,  North  Carolina  Col- 
lection, University  of  North  Carolina  Library,  Chapel  Hill. 


[302] 


CONTENTS  OF  LAST  NUMBER 
JANUARY,  1952 

ADELAIDE  LlSETTA  FRIES Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

A  Book  Pedlar's  Progress  in  North  Carolina  James  s.  Purceii 
Henry  McCulloh  :  Progenitor  of  the  Stamp  Act  .  James  High 
Some  Aspects  of  Society  in  Rural  South 

CAROLINA  IN  1850 Joseph  Davis  Applewhite 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Negro 
Education  in  Virginia wuiiam  t,  Aiderson,  Jr. 

Unpublished  Letters  of 
Calvin  Henderson  Wiley Mary  Galium  Wiley 

Letters  from  North  Carolina  to 

ANDREW  JOHNSON    Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

Book  Reviews 
Historical  News 


X 


THE 


>  •    >  » 


North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 


Issued  Quarterly 


Volume  XXIX 


Number  3 


JULY,  1952 


Published  by 

STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Corner  of  Edenton  and  Salisbury  streets 
Raleigh,  N.  C. 


»     > 

>  -  -    , 


>    »  >  > 


THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  HISTORICAL  REVIEW 


vJ 


i * 


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'     '  '   '    "  :  ' l '  Published  by  the  State  Department  of  Archives  and  History 


Raleigh,  N,  C. 


Christopher  Crittenden,  Editor 
David  Leroy  Corbitt,  Managing  Editor 


ADVISORY  EDITORIAL  BOARD 
Walter  Clinton  Jackson  Hugh  Talmage  Lepler 

Frontis  Withers  Johnston  Douglas  LeTell  Rights 

George  Myers  Stephens 


STATE  DEPARTMENT  OF  ARCHIVES  AND  HISTORY 

Benjamin  Franklin  Brown,  Chairman 

Gertrude  Sprague  Carraway  McDaniel  Lewis 

Clarence  W.  Griffin  Mrs.  Sadie  Smathers  Patton 

William  Thomas  Laprade  Mrs.  Callie  Pridgen  Williams 

Christopher  Crittenden,  Director 


This  review  was  established  in  January,  192b,  as  a  medium  of  publication 
and  discussion  of  history  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  issued  to  other  institutions 
by  exchange,  but  to  the  general  public  by  subscription  only.  The  regular 
price  is  $2.00  per  year.  To  members  of  the  State  Literary  and  Historical 
Association  there  is  a  special  price  of  $1.00  per  year.  Back  numbers  may  be 
procured  at  the  regular  price  of  $2.00  per  volume,  or  $.50  per  number. 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  Number  3 

CONTENTS 

CHRISTOPHER  NEWPORT  IN  1590 305 

Da\id  B.  Quinn 

THE  MIND  OF  THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  OPPONENTS 
OF  THE  STAMP  ACT 317 

C.  Robert  Haywood 

THE  ANTE-BELLUM  PROFESSIONAL  THEATER 

IN  RALEIGH 344 

Donald  J.  Rulfs 

NORTH  CAROLINA  IN  THE  CONFEDERATE 

CONGRESS  359 

Wilfred  B.  Yearns,  Jr. 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY  EXTENSION  IN  NORTH 

CAROLINA  AND  THE  WPA 379 

Elaine  von  Oesen 

LETTERS  FROM  NORTH  CAROLINA  TO 
ANDREW  JOHNSON 400 

Elizabeth  Gregory  McPherson 

BOOK  REVIEWS    432 

Oates'S  The  Story  of  Fayetteville  and  the  Upper  Cape 
Fear — By  Paul  Murray;  Walser's  Inglis  Fletcher  of 
Bandon  Plantation — By  Chalmers  G.  Davidson; 
Baker's  Mrs.  G.  I.  Joe — By  Percival  Perry;  Lewis's 
Northampton  Parishes — By  William  S.  Powell  ;  Hol- 
lis'S  University  of  South  Carolina.  Volume  I.  South 
Carolina  College — By  J.  Isaac  Copeland;  Williams's 
St.  Michael's,  Charleston,  1751-1951 — By  Lawrence  F. 
Brewster;  Easterby's  The  Journal  of  the  Commons 
House  of  Assembly,  September  12,  1739-March  26,  17  Ul 
(The  Colonial  Records  of  South  Carolina) — By  Hugh  T. 

Entered  as  second-class  matter  September  29,  1928,  at  the  Post  Office  at 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1879. 

[i] 


Lefler;  Milling's  Colonial  South  Carolina:  Two  Con- 
temporary Descriptions — By  C.  E.  Cauthen;  Wal- 
lace's History  of  Wofford  College,  1851^-19^9 — By 
Frontis  W.  Johnston;  Schlegel's  Conscripted  City: 
Norfolk  in  World  War  II — By  Horace  W.  Raper; 
Lawrence's  Storm  over  Savannah:  The  Story  of 
Count  d'Estaing  and  the  Siege  of  the  Town  in  1779 
— By  J.  D.  Applewhite;  Woodward's  Origins  of 
the  New  South,  1877-1913 — By  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 
Bragg;  Murdoch's  The  Georgia-Florida  Frontier,  1793- 
1796 — By  Cecil  Johnson;  Freeman's  George  Wash- 
ington: A  Biography — By  Leonidas  Dodson;  Mon- 
tross'S  Rag,  Tag  and  Bobtail:  The  Story  of  the 
Continental  Army,  1775-1783 — By  Hugh  F.  Rankin; 
McNair's  Simon  Cameron's  Adventure  in  Iron,  1837- 
181>6 — By  James  W.  Patton;  Shott's  The  Railroad 
Monopoly:  An  Instrument  of  Banker  Control  of  the 
American  Economy — By  C.  K.  Brown  ;  Thornbrough's 
A  Friendly  Mission:  John  Candler's  Letters  from 
America,  185 3-1 85 U — By  Tinsley  L.  Spraggins;  Mc- 
Allister's Business  Executives  and  the  Humanities — 
By  Tinsley  L.  Spraggins;  Paschal's  Mr.  Justice 
Sutherland:  A  Man  Against  the  State — By  Preston  W. 
Edsall. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR 460 

HISTORICAL  NEWS 465 


The  North  Carolina 
Historical  Review 

Volume  XXIX  JULY,  1952  Number  3 

CHRISTOPHER  NEWPORT  IN  1590 
By  David  B.  Quinn 

Captain  Christopher  Newport  holds  an  honorable  place  in 
early  Anglo-American  history  as  the  commander  of  the  expedi- 
tion which  left  England  in  December,  1606,  for  the  foundation 
of  Jamestown  and  on  account  of  his  subsequent  maritime  activi- 
ties in  support  of  the  struggling  colony.  It  is  now  known  that  it 
was  only  chance  and  misfortune  which  prevented  him,  sixteen 
years  before  the  Jamestown  expedition,  from  taking  part  in  the 
search  for  the  "Lost  Colony"  of  Roanoke  Island,  for  in  1590 
he  was  in  command  of  one  of  the  vessels  which  was  to  call  at 
Raleigh's  Virginia  for  this  purpose. 

For  John  White's  last  voyage  the  main  authority  has  hitherto 
been  his  own  journal  which  Hakluyt  first  published  in  1600,1 
but  the  very  date  of  it  has  been  misinterpreted,  "in  1590"  having 
been  frequently  taken,  by  the  present  writer  amongst  others,2 
to  mean  1591  since  the  journal  begins  on  March  20,  which  was 
within  the  English  official  year  March  25,  1590-March  24, 
1591.  Hakluyt  in  this  case  and  some  others  was  following  the 
continental  usage  of  beginning  the  year  on  January  1,  and  there 
is  no  doubt  at  all  that  1590  is  meant.  There  has  now  become  avail- 
able a  substantial  amount  of  new  material  on  this  1590  voyage, 
mainly  referring  to  its  West  Indian  phase.  On  the  one  hand,  Miss 
Irene  A.  Wright  has  found  at  Seville  valuable  evidence  which 
has  just  been  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society,3  showing  the 
Spanish  reactions  to  the  activities  of  the  English  vessels.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  have  emerged  from  the  records  of  the  High 
Court  of  Admiralty  in  the  Public  Record  Office,  London,  a  num- 


1  Richard  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  III  (1600),  288-295,  or  VIII  (Glasgow,  1904), 
404-422  (to  which  subsequent  references  are  given).  Prefacing  the  journal  is  a  letter  from 
White  to  Hakluyt  of  February  4,   1593,   or   1594. 

2  E.g.,  in  Raleigh  and  the  British  Empire    (New  York,   1949),  122-125. 

3  Irene  A.  Wright,  ed.,  Further  English  Voyages  to  Spanish  America,  1583-1594,  (London, 
The  Hakluyt  Society,  2nd  ser.,  XCIX,  1951),  244-260,  documents  nos.  68-75. 

[  305  ] 


306  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

ber  of  documents  which  throw  a  substantial  amount  of  new  light 
on  the  voyage  from  the  English  side  and,  incidentally,  reveal 
Christopher  Newport's  part  in  it.4 

It  is  not  proposed  to  give  here  a  full  account  of  the  voyage  as 
a  whole  but  rather  to  discuss  those  episodes  in  which  Newport 
took  part;  however,  a  certain  amount  of  general  description  of 
the  circumstances  surrounding  his  activities  is  essential.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  John  White,  having  left  the  third  colony  on 
Roanoke  Island  in  1587,  was  unsuccessful  in  his  attempt  to  re- 
turn with  supplies  and  reinforcements  in  1588.  He,  himself, 
explains  that  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  1590  that  he  seized 
another  opportunity  of  getting  back  to  Raleigh's  Virginia.  Hear- 
ing that  three  privateers,  owned  by  the  London  merchant  John 
Watts  and  his  partners,  were  held  up  in  the  Thames  by  an  em- 
bargo on  shipping,  he  says  that  he  went  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
with  the  proposal  that  they  should  be  released  on  condition  that 
they  should  take  him,  with  some  supplies,  to  Roanoke  Island. 
This,  he  says,  was  done,  the  ships  being  allowed  to  sail  on  giving 
bond  that  they  would  visit  Virginia.  At  the  last  moment,  how- 
ever, they  refused  to  accept  any  cargo  for  the  colonists  and 
merely  permitted  White,  himself,  to  come  on  board.5  We  have 
now  another  version  of  this  episode6  to  the  effect  that  it  was 
William  Sanderson,  Raleigh's  chief  commercial  supporter  in  his 
overseas  enterprises,  who  arranged  for  the  release  of  Watts's 
ships  provided  that  they  should  call  at  Roanoke  Island  and  that 
they  should  take  with  them  Sanderson's  own  ship,  the  Moon- 
light, commanded  by  Edward  Spicer  who  had  been  on  the  1587 
voyage.7  The  four  vessels  were  to  seek  prizes  in  the  West  Indies 
and  then  go  on  to  Virginia.  We  do  not  know  whether  the  Moon- 
light was  to  carry  any  supplies  for  the  colonists,  though  it  is 
possible  that  she  did. 

White's  journal  is  not  too  careful  in  its  references  to  the  ships 
which  took  part  in  the  expedition.  He,  himself,  sailed  in  the  flag- 
ship (or  admiral) ,  the  Hopewell,  which  was  also,  and  more  gen- 
erally, known  as  the  Harry  and  John,  and  gives  her  commander's 


4  They  are  to  be  published  in  the  Hakluyt  Society's  volumes  on  the  Roanoke  voyage  which 
are  being  edited  by  the  present  writer. 

5  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  VIII,  404-405. 

6  Public  Record  Office,  London,  High  Court  of  Admiralty.  Interrogatories  on  behalf  of 
William  Sanderson  (H.  C.  A.,  23/4,  f.  326).  The  High  Court  of  Admiralty  is  hereafter  re- 
ferred to  as  H.C.A. 

7  Hakluyt,   Principal   Navigations,    VIII,    392. 


Christopher  Newport  in  1590  307 

name  as  "Captain  Cooke,"8  thus  concealing  the  fact  that  he  was 
Captain  Abraham  Cocke,  an  experienced  and  romantic  figure 
who  had  spent  some  years  in  South  America.9  With  her  was  the 
John  Evangelist,  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  Hopewell's  pin- 
nace, whose  commander  "Captaine  Lane"  is  distinguished  cor- 
rectly by  Hakluyt  as  Captain  William  Lane10  to  avoid  any 
confusion  with  Ralph  Lane.  The  third  vessel  was  the  vice- 
admiral,  the  Little  John,  which  is  usually  referred  to  by  White 
as  the  John,11  thus  providing  several  possibilities  of  confusion 
with  the  other  vessels.  Her  captain  is  nowhere  named,  but  it  is 
now  clear  that  he  was  Christopher  Newport12  in  what  was,  so  far 
as  is  known,  his  first  command.  In  tracing  the  Little  John  through 
White's  narrative  we  are  therefore  following  Newport's  progress 
from  England  to  the  West  Indies  and  back. 

Watts's  three  ships  slipped  out  of  Plymouth  on  March  20,  1590, 
and  kept  together  until  they  reached  Dominica  on  April  30.  From 
here,  on  May  2,  the  Hopewell  and  John  Evangelist  sailed  on  to 
scour  the  coasts  of  Puerto  Rico,  while  leaving  the  Little  John 
"playing  off  and  on  about  Dominica,  hoping  to  take  some  Span- 
iard outwardes  bound  to  the  Indies."13  All  she  took,  however, 
were  two  young  Caribs  and  they  escaped  when  the  vessel,  de- 
spairing of  a  prize,  had  gone  to  Santa  Cruz  (Saint  Croix)  to 
take  ballast.  She  then  sailed  on  to  make  a  rendezvous  with  the 
Hopewell  and  the  pinnace  at  the  island  of  Saona  off  the  south- 
eastern tip  of  Hispaniola.  Her  next  assignment,  on  May  19,  was 
to  ply  the  Mona  Channel  between  Hispaniola  and  Puerto  Rico, 
along  with  a  tiny  frigate  which  the  Hopewell  had  taken,  so  as  to 
intercept  the  Santo  Domingo  squadron,  which  was  due  to  join 
the  homeward-bound  Spanish  fleet  at  Havana,  if  it  should  take 
that  course.  She  was,  however,  to  wait  only  five  days  and  then 
to  join  the  Hopeivell  and  the  John  Evangelist  near  Cape  Tibu- 
ron  at  the  southwestern  end  of  Hispaniola.  This  she  did  and 
reached  the  rendezvous  on  May  26.14  From  then  on,  for  some 
five  weeks,  we  hear  nothing  of  the  Little  John,  but  apparently 


8  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  VIII,  414-416. 

9  Sir  William  Foster,  ed.,   The   Voyages  of  Sir  James  Lancaster,   1591-1603,    (London,   The 
Hakluyt  Society,   1940),   41. 

10  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  VIII,  409. 

11  E.g.,  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,   VIII,   407. 

12  Examination  of  Christopher  Newport   (pp.  314-316,  below);  Inventory  of  the  Grand  Jesus, 
December  20,  1590    (H.  C.  A.  24/58,  no.  72). 

13  Hakluyt,   Principal   Navigations,   VIII,    407. 

14  Hakluyt,    Principal   Navigations,   VIII,   409. 


308  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

with  her  consorts  she  plied  up  and  down  the  entrance  to  the 
Windward  Passage  and  along  the  south  coast  of  Hispaniola, 
still  awaiting  the  tardy  Spanish  squadron.  By  July  2,  when 
reinforcements  were  to  join  them,  there  were  six  vessels  under 
Captain  Cocke's  command,  Watts's  three  ships  with  two  tiny 
Spanish  frigates  and  a  substantial  merchant  vessel  taken  as 
prizes  by  the  Hopewell  and  the  John  Evangelist.15 

According  to  William  Sanderson,  Watts's  three  ships  had  left 
Plymouth  in  March  without  waiting  for  Sanderson's  vessel,  the 
Moonlight,  or,  as  she  was  also  called,  the  Mary  Terlanye.16  She 
was  not  ready  until  May  and  when  she  was  about  to  sail  alone 
she  received  an  offer  of  consortship  from  another  small  vessel, 
a  pinnace  of  some  thirty  tons,  which  Captain  Spicer  accepted. 
This  was  the  Conclude,  Joseph  Harris,  captain,  owned  by  Thomas 
Middleton  of  London  and  his  partners.17  It  was  these  two  ships 
which,  after  a  rapid  outward  passage,  joined  the  other  six  vessels 
near  Cape  Tiburon  on  July  2.  John  White,  who  saw  little  of  the 
Conclude,  refers  to  her  as  the  Moonlight's  pinnace  and  calls  her 
captain,  Joseph  Harris,  "Mast er  Harps"  :18  he  does  not  mention 
that  the  Moonlight  was  owned  by  Sanderson.  Before  there  had 
been  time  for  either  courtesies  or  business — an  agreement  about 
the  way  prize  money  was  to  be  shared  would  have  saved  much 
litigation  later — the  Santo  Domingo  squadron  of  fourteen  ships 
at  last  came  in  sight.  All  the  eight  vessels  under  English  com- 
mand sailed  at  once  in  pursuit.19  The  Spaniards  scattered,  in- 
tending to  make  for  Jamaica  where  they  could  hope  to  reassemble 
in  shelter.  The  English  squadron  evidently  divided,  the  Hopewell 
keeping  with  the  Moonlight  and  Conclude,  the  Little  John  taking 
the  John  Evangelist  and  the  two  small  prizes.  La  Trinidad,  the 
large  prize,  sailed  alone  and  may  have  been  lost.20  The  chase  was 
continued  from  noon  until  nightfall,  and  it  is  probable  that  it 
was  Newport  in  the  Little  John  who  made  a  prize  before  dark.21 

At  dawn  it  was  Newport's  vessels  that  were  nearest  to  the 
Spanish  ships  making  for  Jamaica.  The  John  Evangelist  was  in 


15  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  VIII,  408-410;  and  below. 
"H.  C.  A.  23/4,   11th  item  from  end. 

17  Thomas  Middleton,  etc.  v.  Robert  Hallett,  John  Watts,  etc.  (H.  C.  A.  13/28,  depositions 
of  Henry  Millett,  John  Tayler,  and  Thomas  Harden,  October  26,  1590;  of  William  Davell 
and  John  Bedford,   October  27;  of  Henry   Swanne  and  Hugh  Hardinge,   October  29). 

18  E.g.,  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,   VIII,   410. 

19  Wright,  Further  English  Voyages,  245,  255;  Hakluyt,   Principal  Navigations,   VIII,   410. 

20  See  below. 

21  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  420;  Wright,  Further  English  Voyages,  245,  255.  New- 
port,  himself,   does   not   mention    this   prize. 


Christopher  Newport  in  1590  309 

the  lead  and  tried  to  prevent  the  enemy's  reaching  safety  under 
the  guns  of  Santiago  de  la  Vega.  She  bravely  challenged  the 
Spanish  flagship,  commanded  by  Captain  Vicente  Gonzalez,22 
but  turned  aside  to  try  to  head  off  some  other  vessels  from  the 
harbour  and  was  so  far  successful  that  two  of  them  were  forced 
to  go  aground.  The  Spanish  account  continues : 

At  this  juncture  the  English  vice-admiral  [the  Little  John]  came 
up,  a  ship  of  about  160  tons  burden,  and  with  the  first  vessel 
[the  John  Evangelist]  resumed  the  fight  with  Vicente  Gonzalez's 
ship.  When  they  had  fought  a  while  both  enemy  vessels  withdrew 
for  fear  lest  they  also  run  aground,  and  Vicente  Gonzalez  made 
the  harbour  of  Jamaica,  on  the  south  side  with  six  or  seven 
ships.23 

Newport,  though  foiled,  was  not  defeated.  He  got  his  ships 
together  and  armed  his  boats  and  pinnaces  to  go  inshore  against 
the  Spanish  vessels  which  had  grounded.  Their  crews  did  not 
stay  to  fight  and  so  the  English  boats  were  able  to  haul  off  both 
of  them  unmolested.  One  of  the  prizes  sank,  however,  before  she 
could  be  pillaged,  but  the  other  was  salvaged.  It  was  now  prob- 
ably late  in  the  day  of  July  3  and  Newport  had  done  all  he  could ; 
keeping  his  ships  together  during  the  night,  he  set  sail  on  the 
morning  of  July  4  for  Cape  Corrientes  near  the  western  end  of 
Cuba.  24  If  all  his  consorts  remained  with  him  he  had  now  in- 
creased his  squadron  from  four  to  six  vessels.  His  progress  must 
have  been  slow  because  at  least  one  of  his  prizes  was  damaged. 
He  delayed  four  or  five  days  at  Cape  Corrientes  before  going  on 
to  Cape  San  Antonio  at  the  southwestern  tip  of  Cuba,  where  he 
stayed  another  three  days.  There  he  determined  to  improve  the 
sailing  capacity  of  his  squadron.  The  prize  salvaged  on  the 
Jamaica  coast  was  rudderless  and  a  liability,  so  she  was  stripped, 
her  cargo  of  sugar,  ginger,  and  hides  redistributed,  and  then 
scuttled.  Some  Spanish  prisoners  were  also  set  on  shore.25  Pre- 
cisely how  long  all  this  took  is  not  clear  but  it  is  evident  that 
Newport,  by  the  time  he  rounded  the  western  end  of  Cuba  and 


22  He  had  commanded  the  Spanish  expedition  which  had  searched  Chesapeake  Bay  in  the 
summer  of  1588  for  the  English  colony  which  was  believed  to  have  been  established 
there,  and  had  accidentally  discovered  some  traces  of  the  "Lost  Colony"  on  the  Carolina 
Banks  on  his  return  journey.  See  D.  B.  Quinn,  "Some  Spanish  Reactions  to  Elizabethan 
Colonial  Enterprises,"  in  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Historical  Society,  5th  ser.,  I  (1951),  15-17. 

23  Wright,  Further  English  Voyages,  255. 

24  Hakluyt,  Principal  Navigations,  VIII,  420;  Wright,  Further  English  Voyages,  255;  p.  315, 
below. 

25  Wright,  Further  English  Voyages,  255-256. 


310  The  North  Carolina  Historical  Review 

made  for  Matanzas  on  the  north  coast,  was  at  least  a  week,  and 
probably  more,  behind  the  Hopewell  and  her  consorts,  and  had 
missed  all  opportunity  of  rejoining  them. 

During  the  chase  on  July  2  the  Hopewell,  the  Moonlight,  and 
the  Conclude  had  not  sailed  so  far  southwards  as  Newport  and 
his  ships  and  had  anchored  at  nightfall.  During  the  night  a 
Spanish  ship  was  heard  nearby  and  when  day  broke  the  three 
English  vessels  closed  in  on  her.  She  was  El  Buen  Jesus,  called 
by  the  English  the  Grand  Jesus  or  the  Great  Jesus,  vice-admiral 
of  the  Santo  Domingo  squadron,  which  had  failed  to  follow  the 
course  towards  Jamaica  set  by  Gonzalez.  After  a  sturdy  defence 
she  was  forced  to  surrender.26  The  precise  part  which  each  of 
the  English  ships  played  in  her  capture  was  to  be  fiercely  con- 
tested in  the  courts  after  she  was  brought  to  England  and  need 
not  detain  us  here,  but  she  was  a  rich  prize  and  was  given  a  crew 
under  Robert  Hallett  from  the  Hopewell,  drawn  from  all  three 
ships  and  including  the  Concluded  captain,  Joseph  Harris.27 
Captain  Cocke  now  made  for  Cape  San  Antonio,  arriving  on 
July  11,  but  to  his  intense  chagrin  the  four  ships  were  becalmed 
there  while  the  treasure  fleet  from  the  Spanish  Main,  under 
Juan  de  Oribe  Appalua,  appeared  off  the  western  end  of  Cuba 
and  made  its  way  to  Ha